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Failure characteristics of roof in working face end based on stress evolution of goaf

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Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In underground coal mining, the working face end is a bridge connecting the stope and the roadway. It not only is characterized by a large area pressure, but also faces the problems of rib spalling, roof falling, and floor heaving. In this research, a 3313 gob side entry retaining in fully mechanized top coal caving face in Shanxi Province was taken as the study object. First, by setting up stress sensors in the goaf, the soft mold filling body, and single pillars at the working face end, their stress changes were respectively monitored. It was concluded that the stress recovery process of the goaf behind the working face end is characterized by periodic step growth, and the roof above the goaf at the working face end is broken layer by layer. The simulation means of 3DEC system was subsequently used to simulate the changes in the stress and displacement of the 3313 working face end. The results demonstrate that the failure of the roof at the end of the goaf also exhibits periodicity. Finally, a thin-plate mechanics model before the first failure of the roof of the working face end was established, and the deflection distribution characteristics of the thin plate under six different length-to-width ratios were compared and analyzed. The research results of this study have important practical significance for deeply understanding the failure mechanism of the roof at the working face end and give a guarantee of the safe and efficient exploitation of coal mining.

Article Highlights

  • The stress evolution of coal goaf was investigated via field measurements.

  • The roof collapse and dynamic evolution of three-dimensional mining stress were investigated via numerical simulation.

  • The mechanism of roof failure at the working face end was discussed.

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Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the State Key Research Development Program of China (2018YFC0604501), the Science and Technology Innovation Project of China Energy Investment Corporation (SHGF-16-24, SHJT-17-38), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52004291, 51974161), the State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for Gas Geology and Gas Control (Henan Polytechnic University) (WS2020A04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Resource Protection and Utilization in Coal Mining, Beijing, 102209, China

    Guojun Zhang & Quansheng Li

  2. National Institute of Clean and Low Carbon Energy, Beijing, 102209, China

    Guojun Zhang & Quansheng Li

  3. School of Energy and Mining Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Guojun Zhang & Yong Zhang

  4. Beijing Key Laboratory for Precise Mining of Intergrown Energy and Resources, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Yong Zhang & Feng Du

  5. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for Gas Geology and Gas Control, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454000, China

    Feng Du

Authors
  1. Guojun Zhang
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  2. Quansheng Li
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  3. Yong Zhang
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  4. Feng Du
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Contributions

GZ: Methodology, investigation, writing-original draft. QL: Investigation, Writing-original draft. YZ: Formal analysis, writing-review and editing. FD: conceptualization, formal analysis, writing-review and editing.

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Correspondence to Yong Zhang or Feng Du.

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Zhang, G., Li, Q., Zhang, Y. et al. Failure characteristics of roof in working face end based on stress evolution of goaf. Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. 7, 53 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-021-00252-7

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