Back-and-forth mining for hard and thick coal seams—research about the mining technology for fully mechanized caving working face of Datong Mine

The article introduced the key technology, mining process, and back-and-forth mining method for the caving working face of hard-thick coal seams in Datong mine, and researched this innovations process, optimized the systemic design and working face out-play, tried to perfect the caving mining technology of hard-thick coal seams further.

Development and prospect on fully mechanized mining in Chinese coal mines

Fully mechanized mining(FMM)technology has been applied in Chinese coal mines for more than 40 years.At present,the output of a FMM face has reached 10-million tons with Chinese-made equipment.In this study,the new developments in FMM technology and equipment in Chinese coal mines during past decades are introduced.The automatic FMM technology for thin seams,complete sets of FMM technology with ultra large shear height of 7 m for thick seams,complete sets of fully mechanized top coal caving technology with large shear height for ultra-thick seams of 20 m,complete sets of FMM technology for complex and difficult seams,including steeply inclined seams,soft coal seams with large inclination angle,and the mechanized filling mining technology and equipment are presented.Some typical case studies are also introduced.Finally,the existing problems with the FMM technology are discussed,and prospect of FMM technology and equipment applied in Chinese coal mines is put forward.

Analysis and key control technologies to prevent spontaneous coal combustion occurring at a fully mechanized caving face with large obliquity in deep mines

In order to prevent spontaneous coal combustion occurring at a fully mechanized caving face with large obliquity in deep mines in China, we have analyzed the characteristics of spontaneous coal combustion and explain theoretically the factors affecting spontaneous coal combustion, such as rock bursts, high temperatures, high ventilation resistance, slow advancing speed and large obliquity mining. Key technologies to prevent spontaneous combustion occurring in sharply inclined seams in deep mines are pro- posed; these include pouring water, stopping leakage in upper and lower comers of the working face, choking off the goaf and cov- eting the coal. CO concentrations were controlled within two years to less than 15×10^-6 at the upper comer by applying these tech- nologies at the 1410 working face of the Huafeng coal mine. Our method has significant theoretical value and is of practical impor- tance in controlling spontaneous coal combustion occurring at a fully mechanized caving face with large obliquity in deep mines.

Numerical simulation of coal wall cutting and lump coal formation in a fully mechanized mining face

It is difficult to accurately calculate the lump coal rate in a fully mechanized mining face.Therefore,a numerical simulation of the coal wall cutting process,which revealed the crack expansion,development,evolution in the coal body and the corresponding lump coal formation mechanism,was performed in PFC2D.Moreover,a correlation was established between the cutting force and lump coal formation,and a statistical analysis method was proposed to determine the lump coal rate.The following conclusions are drawn from the results:(1)Based on a soft ball model,a coal wall cutting model is established.By setting the roller parameters based on linear bonding and simulating the roller cutting process of the coal body,the coal wall cutting process is effectively simulated,and accurate lump coal rate statistics are provided.(2)Under the cutting stress,the coal body in the working face underwent three stages—microfracture generation,fracture expansion,and fracture penetration—to form lump coal,in which the fracture direction is orthogonal to the cutting pressure chain.Within a certain range from the roller,as the cutting depth of the roller increased,the number of new fractures in the coal body first increases and then stabilizes.(3)Under the cutting stress,the fractured coal body is locally compressed,thereby forming a compact core.The formation and destruction of the compact core causes fluctuations in the cutting force.The fluctuation amplitude is positively related to the coal mass.(4)Because the simulation does not consider secondary damage in the coal,the simulated lump coal rate is larger than the actual lump coal rate in the working face;this deviation is mainly concentrated in large lump coal with a diameter greater than 300 mm.

Deformation mechanism of surrounding rocks and key control technology for a roadway driven along goaf in fully mechanized top-coal caving face

The variation of the stress in the bolted surrounding rocks structure of the roadway driven along goaf in a fully mechanized top coal caving face with moderate stable conditions are studied by using numerical calculation. The essential deformation characteristics of the surrounding rocks in this kind of roadway are obtained and the key technology of bolting support used under these conditions is put forward.

Statistic constitutive equation of top-coal damage for fully mechanized coal face with sublevel caving

Under the action of abutment pressure in front of fully mechanized coal face with sublevel caving(CFSC),top-coal over CFSC deformed.In the process of whole de- formation of top-coal,it changed from continuum elastic mass to non-continuum plastic mass contained fissures,become a loose body.According to its bearing characteristics and mechanical properties,top-coal mass can be divided into four deformation zones along the winning direction of CFSC,i.e.initial stress zone,elastic zone,plastic zone and loose zone.Top-coal in plastic zone located in the post-peak zone of the stress-strain curve for top-coal.With equivalent strain principle of damage mechanics and mathemati- cal theory of statistic,combining the movement law of top-coal,set up a constitutive equa- tion with damage statistics for top-coal in different position in CFSC.The equation illus- trated the mathematical relationship among top-coal bearing capacity,horizontal confining pressure along the winning direction of CFSC and mechanical properties of top-coal mate- rial.The conclusions not only provide a basis for numerical computer simulations on damage deformation and failure mechanism for top-coal,but also further promote the ap- plication of damage mechanics in CFSC.

Effect of suppressing dust by multi-direction whirling air curtain on fully mechanized mining face

A combined method of numerical simulation and field testing was adopted in this study in the interest of solving the problem of hard to control high concentrate dusts on a fully mechanized mining face. In addi- tion, the dust suppression effect of a multi-direction whirling air curtain was studied in this paper. Under the influence of the wall attachment effect, the compressed air which blows out from the two-phase or three-phase radial outlets on the generator of the air curtain can form a multi-direction whirling air curtain, which can cover the whole roadway section of a fully mechanized mining face. The traditional method of controlling dust is a forcing system with exhaust overlap which has the major disadvantage of lacking a jet effect and consequently results in poor dust control. It is difficult to form the air flow field within the range of Lp ≤ 5√S. However, due to the effect of this novel system, the radial airflow can be turned into axial airflow allowing fresh air to flow through the length of the heading. The air flow field which is good at controlling dust diffusion can be formed 12.8 m from the heading face. Furthermore, the field measurement results show that before the application of a multi-direction whirling air curtain, the dust concentration is 348.6 mg/m^3 and 271.4 mg/m^3 respectively at the roadway cross-section measurement points which are 5 m and 10 m from the heading face. However, after the application of the multi-direction whirling air curtain, the dust concentration is only 61.2 mg/m3 and 14.8 mg/m^3, respectively. Therefore, the dust control effect of a multi-direction whirling air curtain is obvious.

Similar material simulation research on movement law of roof over-lying strata in stope of fully mechanized caving face with large mining height

Similar material simulation test W9-15 101 fully mechanized caving face with was carried out in a geological model of large mining height in the Liuhuanggou Colliery, in Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region. The roof overlying strata movement law in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height was studied and show that the roof overlying strata in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height can be formed into a stable arch structure; the fracture rock beam is formed resembling a ＂bond beam＂, but it has essentially the structure of ＂multi-span beams＂ under the big structure of the stable arch. The roof overlying strata movement law in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height is similar to that of the common, fully mechanized caving stope, which is determined by the deformation and instability of the structure of ＂multi-span beams＂. But because of the differences between the mining heights, the peak pressure in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height is smaller while the affected area of abutment pressure is wider in the front of the working face; this is the obvious difference in abutment pressure between the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height and that of the common.

Technological optimization of fully mechanized caving mining face with large mining heights

Fully mechanized cave mining with large mining height is a new mining method, due to its large mining thickness and lower roadway excavation, the technology has been widely used in China＇s thick seam mining. In order to improve the top-coal recovery ratio of fully mechanized cave mining with large mining height, a study was conducted on optimizing the caving process, based on the mechanized caving face 1302N in Longgu Coal Mine. This was achieved by improving the PFC numerical calculation methods, and establishing a more accurate model system. On this basis, the recovery ratio of the top coal in different drawing intervals and technologies was investigated in order to achieve a reasonable caving process. The top-coal tracking system was used for practical surveying of the recovery ratio of top coal.

Study on Filling Cross-Roadway in Fully-Mechanized Coal Faces with High Water-Content Material

A new method using high water content material to mechanically fill cross roadways to form artificial bottom for coal faces was introduced. The reasonable determination of filling range, the optimization of the compounding ratio of high water content material, and the filling technique were discussed in detail. This new method has been spread after industrial testing in Baodian Colliery. Compared with the traditional method, the manual wooden chock method, the new one decreases about 40% of the filling range and cost in dealing every one set of cross roadway in the testing condition.

Reliability analysis of the velocity matching of coal cutting and caving in fully mechanized top-coal caving face

The matching relationship between coal cutting and caving in fully mechanized top-coal caving face is analyzed in detail from the angle of reliability. The coupling equation of reliability is established correspondingly, and the mathematical equation of the coefficient of velocity matching of coal cutting and caving is obtained, which meets a certain reliability demand for making the working procedure of coal caving not influence coal cutting of coal-cutter. The results show that the relationship between the coefficient of the velocity matching and the reliability of coal cutting and caving system is linear on the whole when R <0.9. It is pointed out that different numerical value should be selected for different coal face according to different demand for reliability.

Fracture mechanics model of fully mechanized top coal caving of shallow coal seams and its application

Based on break characteristics of roofs in fully mechanized top-coal mining of thick shallow coal seams, a fracture mechanics model was built, and the criterion of crack propagation in the main roof was derived using the fracture mechanics theory. The relationships between the fracture length of the roof and the working resistance of the supports were discovered, and the correlations between the load on the overlying strata and the ratio of the crack's length to the thickness of the roof were obtained. Using a working face of Jindi Coal Mine, Xing county Shanxi province as an example, the relationships between the fracture length of the roof and the working resistance of the supports were analysed in detail. The results give a design basis in hydraulic top coal caving supports, which could provide useful references in the practical application. On-site experiment proves that the periodic weighting step interval of the caving face is 15–16 m, which is basically consistent with the theoretical analysis results, and indicates that the mechanized caving hydraulic support is capable of meeting the support requirements in the mining of a super-thick but shallowly buried coal seam.

Study of mechanical principle of floor heave of roadway driving along next goaf in fully mechanized sub-level caving face

Abstract On the basis of analyzing floor strata mechanical circumstance of the roadway, the mechanical model was established. The relative displacement of roadway floor, narrow pillar floor coal mass and floor strata was calculated, the results showed that the high abutment pressure on coal mass beside the roadway was the main reason to lead to relative displacement of floor strata. And the roadway floor heave come mainly from three aspects. Firstly, the roadway floor strata is easily fractured by the stretch stress. Secondly, because the high abutment pressure is greater than the uniaxial compressive strength of floor strata, when the roadway floor strata are fractured, the coal mass floor strata at the same depth will be fractured, and broken rock will fluid into the open roadway. Thirdly, comparing with the coal mass floor, the roadway floor is relative ascending.

Application of deep borehole blasting on fully mechanized hard top-coal pre-splitting and gas extraction in the special thick seam

In order to solve the problems of top-coal inadequate destruction and large amounts of gas emission in mining extra thick and hard coal seam,this study investigated the pre-splitting for deep borehole blasting and gas pre-draining technologies on top coal.The mechanism of the technologies was systematically expounded based on hard top-coal cracks development obtained by numerical simulation and theoretical analysis.The results show that explosive blasting in the hard rock results in a large number of cracks and large displacement in the rock mass due to the effect of explosion stress.Meanwhile,the thick top-coal caves,and desorbing gas flows along the cracks improve gas extraction.Finally,the pre-splitting for deep borehole blasting and gas pre-draining technologies was applied in No.3802 working face of Shui Liandong Coal Mine,which increases monthly output in the face to 67.34 kt and the drained gas concentration to 86.2%.The drained gas average concentration from each borehole reaches 40%,and the effect is remarkable.

STUDY ON PRODUCTION SYSTEM OPERATION REGULARITY OF FULLY MECHANIZED SUBLEVEL CAVING MINING AND SEQUENTIAL OPERATION

According to a lot of practical data in Liujialiang Mine and reliability theory and result of computer simulation, operation regularity of fully mechanized sublevel caving mining production system in the condition of gently inclined complicated geological structure and production shortcomings are found out and reliability of system and output of the working face are predicted finally.

Ground pressure and overlying strata structure for a repeated mining face of residual coal after room and pillar mining

To investigate the abnormal ground pressures and roof control problem in fully mechanized repeated mining of residual coal after room and pillar mining, the roof fracture structural model and mechanical model were developed using numerical simulation and theoretical analysis. The roof fracture characteristics of a repeated mining face were revealed and the ground pressure law and roof supporting condi- tions of the repeated mining face were obtained. The results indicate that when the repeated mining face passes the residual pillars, the sudden instability causes fracturing in the main roof above the old goal and forms an extra-large rock block above the mining face. A relatively stable ＂Voussoir beam＂ structure is formed after the advance fracturing of the main roof. When the repeated mining face passes the old goaf, as the large rock block revolves and touches gangue, the rock block will break secondarily under overburden rock loads. An example calculation was performed involving an integrated mine in Shanxi province, results showed that minimum working resistance values of support determined to be reason- able were respectively 11,412 kN and 10,743 kN when repeated mining face passed through residual pillar and goaf. On-site ground pressure monitoring results indicated that the mechanical model and support resistance calculation were reasonable.

Vertical transportation system of solid material for backfilling coal mining technology

For transportation of solid backfill material such as waste and fly ash from the surface to the bottom of the shaft in a fully mechanized backfilling coal backfilling coal mining technology, we developed a new vertical transportation system to transport this type of solid backfill material. Given the demands imposed on safely in feeding this material, we also investigated the structure and basic parameter of this system. For a mine in the Xingtai mining area the results show that: (1) a vertical transportation system should include three main parts, i.e., a feeding borehole, a maintenance chamber and a storage silo; (2) we determined that 486 mm is a suitable diameter for bore holes, the diameter of the storage silo is 6 m and its height 30 m in this vertical transportation system; (3) a conical buffer was developed to absorb the impact during the feeding process. To ensure normal implementation of fully mechanized backfilling coal mining technology and the safety of underground personnel, we propose a series of security technologies for anti-blockage, storage silo cleaning, high pressure air release and aspiration. This vertical transporting system has been applied in one this particular mine, which has fed about 4 million tons solid material with a feeding depth of 350 m and safely exploited 3 million tons of coal.

Investigation on the stress field characteristic of top coal at FMTC faces under the influence of caving thickness

In the background of the technology condition and the geological condition of the 1151（3） fully mechanized top-coal caving face （FMTC face）, and by means of taking nonlinear 3D numerical simulation, the stress redistribution rules of top coal with different thick coal seam were obtained by investigation on the numerical simulation of the redistributions of the stress with different coal seam＇s thickness. The research showes that there exists a certain difference on the stress distributions of the top coal at face, the maximum principal stress is located near to the tailentry＇s corner. The vertical stress＇s peak of the top coal decreases and the distance ahead of face position increases as the once mining thickness of the coal seam increases. At the same coal seam, the vertical stresses＇ peak of top coal gradually decreases from the top to the bottom, the peak＇s position is basically the same and its changes are gradually obvious with the thickness of coal seam increas- ing. The vertical stress of top coal places in a low stress state at a certain range ahead of face and over the face, which reveals the essence that the support loads are generally low under the condition of FMTC. The study supplies the theoretical foundation for the support design and selection, the theory of top coal＇s fragmentation, the movement rules of top coal and improving the recovery of top coal.

我国大倾角煤层开采技术变革与展望

大倾角煤层是我国煤炭资源的主要赋存样式之一。在地域分布上呈现出广泛性与区域性,据不完全统计,全国25个省、自治区、直辖市均涉及该类煤层开采,在中西部地区储量丰富、产量大、生产集中程度高。在赋存条件上呈现出多样性与复杂性,不同区域成煤时期不一,构造控煤过程迥异,形成了多样且复杂的开采条件,催生了不同的开采技术要求。大倾角煤层开采的技术难度大。煤层倾角导致采场围岩运动破坏呈现非对称性显现特征,支护系统稳定性控制与“三机”配套与协同、采准巷道布置与支护、工作面“人-机”环境安全保障等工作的难度显著加剧,严重制约了矿井安全高效开采。大倾角煤层开采的区域经济需求强,该类煤层赋存与生产较集中的区域多见以煤炭工业为主的资源型城市,经济结构相对单一,煤炭资源安全高效开发利用对区域能源保供、民生保障、经济保稳具有兜底作用。长期以来,大倾角煤层开采技术变革聚焦于解决“难”与“需”的矛盾,在采煤方法与工艺、岩层控制理论与技术、成套装备研制与应用3个方面不断完善、创新、发展,实现了由非机械化向机械化开采的转变,安全产效水平大幅提升,人员劳动强度大幅下降,作业环境显著改善。20世纪90年代中期,川煤集团绿水洞煤矿首次成功实现了大倾角中厚煤层长壁综采,冲破了大倾角煤层机械化开采技术“禁区”。在此示范作用下,大倾角厚煤层长壁综放开采、大采高综采、薄煤层伪俯斜长壁综采三项首创性工程实践先后取得成功。这一过程中创新了工作面非线性限位布置与调斜方式,确立了“支架-围岩”系统稳定性多维交互控制模式,研发了工作面成套装备,取得良好收效,综合机械化开采技术适用范围进一步拓宽。与此同时,大倾角煤层开采仍存在许多亟待突破的关键科学问题与技术瓶颈,导致自动化、智能化水平提升与近水平/缓倾斜煤层相较仍存在较大差距。需进一步强化倾斜层状煤系地层煤岩体采动力学行为研究,揭示其对采场围岩灾变的控制机制,并实现量化表征;需进一步阐明岩体承载结构-采场装备群组系统间的多维动态作用过程与规律,完善装备与围岩多维动态多目标协同控制理论与技术基础,实现技术转化应用。在科学问题取得突破的基础上进行采煤方法、回采工艺、岩层控制、成套装备的系统性技术创新与研发,破解大倾角煤层开采安全-产效双提升的制约技术瓶颈,使大倾角煤层综合机械化开采倾角上限在有可靠技术保障的前提下向上延伸(扩展),为实现自动化、智能化开采奠定基础。

煤矿井下非均匀照度图像去噪研究

煤矿综采工作面空间小、照明环境复杂多变,采煤过程中伴随着大量的粉尘、大雾,导致采集的图像出现曝光、细节特征减弱等问题,难以对井下照明区域光照强度过大的图像进行有效的特征提取。针对上述问题,提出了一种煤矿井下非均匀照度图像去噪算法。首先,将视频截取为图像,判断图像是否需要进行光照抑制,将需要进行光照抑制的RGB图像拆分通道,并计算每个通道的光照调节因子,实现图像的整体光照调节;然后,将未进行整体光照抑制的图像和经整体光照抑制的图像进行反射分量提取,即将输入的图像转换为HSV空间图像,使用单尺度Retinex(SSR)算法对V通道图像中的光照分量进行单独处理,将V分量中的入射分量去除,保留反射分量,并对反射分量使用直方图均衡算法实现光照均衡化处理;最后,使用基于引导滤波的暗通道先验算法对经过光照处理后的图像进行去雾处理,并使用伽马校正函数重新调节亮度不均的图像。主观评价结果表明:提出的煤矿井下非均匀照度图像去噪算法有效抑制了因光照导致整体亮度较高的问题,且由于大雾、粉尘等因素导致图像模糊的部分更加清晰,图像的细节特征更加突出。采用信息熵、均值、标准差、空间频率4种评价指标对提出的算法效果进行客观评价,结果表明,提出的算法在信息熵、均值、标准差、空间频率上较多尺度Retinex(MSR)算法分别平均提升了21.87%,-56.06%,153.43%,294.45%,较基于颜色保持的多尺度视网膜增强(MSRCP)算法分别平均提升了1.18%,-39.56%,33.29%,-4.71%,较带色彩恢复的多尺度视网膜增强(MSRCR)算法分别平均提升了38.06%,-55.27%,462.10%,300.96%,说明提出的算法能更有效地增加图像信息量、抑制光照强度、提升边缘信息及图像清晰度。