Lateral abutment pressure distribution and evolution in wide pillars under the first mining effect

The wide pillars are generally popular due to the high productivity and efficiency in Northwest China.The distribution of lateral abutment pressure in coal pillars is important for mining safety.To reveal the effect of the first mining on the lateral abutment pressure distribution and evolution in wide pillars,an in-situ experiment,theoretical analysis and numerical simulation were performed.First,the field monitoring of lateral abutment pressure was conducted from the perspective of time and space in the Chahasu Coal Mine,Huangling No.2 Coal Mine and Lingdong Coal Mine during the first mining.Based on the field monitoring stress,a theoretical model was proposed to reveal the lateral abutment pressure distribution.The methodology was demonstrated through a case study.Aiming at the distribution mechanism,a numerical experiment was conducted through the finite-discrete element method(FDEM).Last,field observations of borehole fractures were performed to further study the damage distribution.In addition,two types of lateral abutment pressure evolution with mining advance were discussed.Suggestions on the stress monitoring layout were proposed as well.The results could provide foundations for strata control and disaster prevention in wide pillars in underground coal mines.

Prediction Model of Abutment Pressure Affected by Far-Field Hard Stratum Based on Elastic Foundation Theory

In view of the three-dimensional dynamic abutment pressure,the influence of the far-field hard stratum(FHS)in deep,thick coal seams is indeterminant.Based on elastic foundation theory,a three-dimensional dynamic prediction model of the abutment pressure was established.Using this model,the dynamic change in the coal seam abutment pressure caused by the movement of the FHS was studied,and a method for determining the dynamic change range of the abutment pressure was developed.The results of the new prediction model of the abutment pressure are slightly higher than the measured values,with an error of 0.51%,which avoids the shortcomings of the results because the Winkler foundation model results are lower than the measured values and have an error of 9.98%.As time progresses,the abutment pressure and its distribution range are affected by the FHS movement,which has the characteristics of gradually increasing dynamic change until the FHS fractures.The peak value of the abutment pressure increases linearly with time,and the influence range increases with time following a power function with an exponent of less than 1.The influence range of the FHS movement on the abutment pressure ahead of the working face,behind the working face,and along the working face is 10 times,25 times,and 17 times the mining thickness,respectively.According to the actual geological parameters,the dynamic change range of the coal seam abutment pressure was determined by drawing an additional stress curve and by determining the threshold value.These research results are of great significance to the partition optimization of the roadway support design of deep,thick coal seams.

Floor stress evolution laws and its effect on stability of floor roadway

According to the distribution of abutment stress in a stope,this research established the mechanical model of mining abutment pressure transmission in floor base on the theory of semi-infnite plate body in elasticity.This study takes the 762 working face of Haizi Coal Mine as a case in point,and analyzed the dynamic evolution law of seam floor stress during the mining process.With an organic combination of the mining floor stress and surrounding rock stress,the study obtained the change laws of the maximum principle stress and the minimum one for the floor roadway surrounding rock when mining the upper working face.Considering the non-constant pressure force state and the cracks revolution mechanisms of floor roadway surrounding rock,the research built the mechanical model of roadway stress.Simulation results verify the reliability of the above conclusions.Moreover,this model could provide the theoretical basis and technical support for controlling floor roadway surrounding rock.

On the excavation-induced stress drop in damaged coal considering a coupled yield and failure criterion

Investigating the stress drop of abutment pressure is the key to a deep quantitative analysis of the discontinuous stress redistribution under mining.In the present study,uniaxial and triaxial compression tests are carried out separately to determine the bulk and shear moduli,the cohesion,and the internal friction angle of the coal samples.By extending the meaning of Mohr’s circle referring to yield stress instead of the maximum principal stress,a yield line is introduced to illustrate the stress drop of Mohr’s circle referring to yield stress instead of the maximum principal stress at the elastoplastic boundary.Furthermore,a theoretical solution of the stress drop as a function of the damage is proposed to investigate how the abutment pressure differs considering the yield line and failure line.In addition,applying the stress drop at the yield line in non-pillar mining,top coal mining,and protective coal mining shows that the damage has a nonlinearly positive influence on the stress drop.The results shows that the bulk modulus and internal friction angle have a more sensitive influence on the stress drop than do the shear modulus and cohesion.Finally,the stress drop is divided into a discontinuous stress drop at the yield line and a structural stress drop at the failure line.The stress drop is effective in describing the discontinuous stress redistribution and shows a clear difference in the movement direction of Mohr’s circle considering the unloading pressure.

Control of coal and gas outbursts in Huainan mines in China： A review

An investigation was conducted on the overall burst-instability of isolated coal pillars by means of the possibility index diagnosis method（PIDM）. First, the abutment pressure calculation model of the gob in side direction was established to derive the abutment pressure distribution curve of the isolated coal pillar. Second, the overall burst-instability ratio of the isolated coal pillars was defined. Finally, the PIDM was utilized to judge the possibility of overall burst-instability and recoverability of isolated coal pillars.The results show that an overall burst-instability may occur due to a large gob width or a small pillar width. If the width of the isolated coal pillar is not large enough, the shallow coal seam will be damaged at first, and then the high abutment pressure will be transferred to the deep coal seam, which may cause an overall burst-instability accident. This approach can be adopted to design widths of gobs and isolated coal pillars and to evaluate whether an existing isolated coal pillar is recoverable in skip-mining mines.

Stress and deformation analysis of gob-side pre-backfill driving procedure of longwall mining:a case study

At present,non-pillar entry protection in longwall mining is mainly achieved through either the gob-side entry retaining(GER)procedure or the gob-side entry driving(GED)procedure.The GER procedure leads to difficulties in maintaining the roadway in mining both the previous and current panels.A narrow coal pillar about 5-7 m must be left in the GED procedure;therefore,it causes permanent loss of some coal.The gob-side pre-backfill driving(GPD)procedure effectively removes the wasting of coal resources that exists in the GED procedure and finds an alternative way to handle the roadway maintenance problem that exists in the GER procedure.The FLAC^(3D) software was used to numerically investigate the stress and deformation distributions and failure of the rock mass surrounding the previous and current panel roadways during each stage of the GPD procedure which requires"twice excavation and mining".The results show that the stress distribution is slightly asymmetric around the previous panel roadway after the"primary excavation".The stronger and stiffer backfill compared to the coal turned out to be the main bearing body of the previous panel roadway during the"primary mining".The highest vertical stresses of 32.6 and 23.1 MPa,compared to the in-situ stress of 10.5 MPa,appeared in the backfill wall and coal seam,respectively.After the"primary mining",the peak vertical stress under the coal seam at the floor level was slightly higher(18.1 MPa)than that under the backfill(17.8 MPa).After the"secondary excavation",the peak vertical stress under the coal seam at the floor level was slightly lower(18.7 MPa)than that under the backfill(19.8 MPa);the maximum floor heave and maximum roof sag of the current panel roadway were 252.9 and 322.1 mm,respectively.During the"secondary mining",the stress distribution in the rock mass surrounding the current panel roadway was mainly affected by the superposition of the front abutment pressure from the current panel and the side abutment pressure from the previous panel.The floor heave of the current panel roadway reached a maximum of 321.8 mm at 5 m ahead of the working face;the roof sag increased to 828.4 mm at the working face.The peak abutment pressure appeared alternately in the backfill and the coal seam during the whole procedure of"twice excavation and mining"of the GPD procedure.The backfill provided strong bearing capacity during all stages of the GPD procedure and exhibited reliable support for the roadway.The results provide scientific insight for engineering practice of the GPD procedure.