Investigation on Failure Characteristics of Coal Seam Floor in Paste Filling Working Face

Water inrush disasters are extremely prone to occur if the coal seam floor contains a confined aquifer. To find out the failure behavior of coal seam floor of paste filling working face, a beam-based theoretical model for the floor aquifuge was built, and then, the water inrush risk was evaluated based on the thickness of floor aquifuge. Next, the floor failure characteristics of the paste filling face was numerically studied and the effects of the filling interval and long-term strength of the filling body on the floor failure depth, stress and displacement distributions, and plastic zone were explored. The results showed that the theoretical model for evaluating the safety of the floor of the paste filling face based on the empty roof distance is proved to be consistent with that of the empirical formula judged based on the assumption that the paste filling working face was regarded as a cut hole with a certain width. The filling interval has a significant effect on the stress concentration of the surrounding rock, failure depth of floor, and roof-floor convergence. The smaller the filling interval is, the smaller their values are. When the filling rate is 98%, the long-term strength of the filling body is 5 MPa, and the floor failure depth is not more than 4 m. In contrast, the strength of the filling body has no obvious influence on the floor failure depth, but it has a certain impact on the roof-floor convergence. From the perspective of reducing floor failure depth, there is no need to increase the long-term strength of backfill, but it is necessary to increase the early strength of backfill so as to reduce the width of the equivalent roadway.

Control of Water Inrush from Longwall Floor Aquifers Using a Division Paste Backfilling Method

Aiming at the problem of the safety mining problems of longwall paste filling working face under buildings on high confined water in the Daizhuang Coal Mine, the paste filling mining method was used. A series of theoretical analyses, numerical simulations, and field measurements were applied. The results showed that when the filling interval of the working face increases from 1.2 m to 3.6 m, no significant change is found in the depth of the perforated plastic zone of the floor strata. According to the types of water-conducting cracks in the floor strata of the working face 11607, the floor strata are divided into the floor intact area, the structure developed area, and the floor weak area. Based on that, the measures for preventing and controlling the floor failure in the paste filling working face are proposed. Furthermore, the failure depth of the floor of the test working face was detected by the on-site water injection method, and the results showed that the maximum failure depth of the floor of the test working face was about 3 m.

Movement Laws of Overlying Strata above a Fully Mechanized Coal Mining Face Backfilled with Gangue: A Case Study in Jiulishan Coal Mine in Henan Province, China

The aim of this study is to obtain movement laws of overlying strata above a fully mechanized coal mining face backfilled with gangue and solve the problem of surface subsidence during coal mining. This study was carried out based on gangue backfilling mining of Jiulishan Coal Mine (Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, China) from the perspectives of deformation of backfilled gangue under compaction, surrounding rock of a stope, and activities of key strata. The method combining with rock mechanics, viscoelastic mechanics, control theory of rock mass under mining, and numerical simulation was used based on physical and mechanical characteristics of backfilled gangue. On this basis, the research analyzed the temporal-spatial relationships of activities of surrounding rock of the stope, compressive deformation of backfilling body, failure depth of the floor, deformation characteristics of the main roof with laws of surface subsidence. The movement characteristics of overlying strata above the fully mechanized coal mining face backfilled with gangue and the traditional fully mechanized mining face were compared. It is found that, under the same conditions of overlying strata, movement laws of overlying strata are mainly determined by the mining height of coal seams and the heights of a caving zone and a fracture zone are nearly linearly correlated with the mining height. Through analysis based on thin-plate theory and key stratum theory, the location of the main roof of the fully mechanized coal mining face backfilled with gangue in coal seams first bending and sinking due to load of overlying strata was ascertained. Then, it was determined that there are two key strata and the main roof belongs to the inferior key stratum. By using the established mechanical model for the main roof of the fully mechanized coal mining face backfilled with gangue and the calculation formula for the maximum deflection of the main roof, this research presented the conditions for breaking of the main roof. In addition, based on the theoretical analysis, it is concluded that the main roof of the fully mechanized coal mining face backfilled with gangue does not break, but bends. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that, with the continuous increase of strength of backfilled gangue, the stress concentration degree of surrounding rock reduces constantly, so does its decrease amplitude. Moreover, the compressive deformation of backfilling, failure depth of the floor, and bending and subsidence of the main roof continuously decrease and tend to be stable. The mechanical properties of backfilling materials determine effects of gangue backfilling in controlling surface subsidence. Gangue backfilling can effectively control movement of overlying strata and surface subsidence tends to be stable with the increase of elastic modulus of gangue.

Mechanical Analysis of the Failure Characteristics of Stope Floor Induced by Mining and Confined Aquifer

Mining above confined aquifer has become an important task for water inrush prevention in China. To study the failure characteristics of stope floor along the strike, a mechanical model under combined action of mining and confined aquifer was constructed, and the distribution of vertical stress, horizontal stress, and shear stress was obtained. Based on the Mohr–Coulomb criterion, the failure range of the floor is determined and verified by the in situ test. The results indicate the following. (1) Both vertical stress and horizontal stress in the stope floor take the junction of stress increasing area and stress decreasing area as the dividing line, forming two groups of “convex arches” at the solid coal side and the goaf side, respectively. (2) The vertical stress gradient in the solid coal side is significantly higher than that in the goaf side, while the horizontal stress gradient in the solid coal side is similar to that in the goaf side. The shear stress distribution is divided into three regions by the boundary between positive and negative shear stress, which makes the stope floor in this area to show compression shear or tension shear failure. (3) According to the in situ test, the maximum floor failure depth of 41503 working face is 11.38 m, which is quite close to the theoretical calculation result of 9.68 m. (4) Applying the mechanical model to five other coal mines with different mining conditions and stress states, the maximum absolute error between the measured and theoretical values of floor failure depth is 1.1 m, the average absolute error is 0.8 m, the maximum relative error is 8.2%, and the average relative error is 6.5%. The study provides a certain mechanical basis and reference for the floor failure mechanism induced by mining and confined aquifer.

Water Inrush and Failure Characteristics of Coal Seam Floor Over A Confined Aquifer

Failure behaviors of the floor rocks under coal seam mining in the conditions of hard magma rock roof and confined aquifer are studied. Based on the theory of rock stresses and elasticity mechanics, the combined effects of the abutment pressure induced by the hard roof and by the water pressure under the thin aquicludes of the floor rocks were considered, and a mechanical model was constructed along the strike of the working face. An analytical solution of stress distribution was derived in the floor rocks, the distributions of vertical, horizontal and shear stresses were calculated. In combination with the in-situ measurement, the results show that: 1) when the periodic pressure caused by the roof collapse occurs on the working face, and the maximum stress concentration in the floor appears at the elastic-plastic junction in the direction of the strike of the working face. With the increase of the depth of the floor, the horizontal stress coefficient tends to decrease, and the corresponding shear stress coefficient isoline shows a “symmetric spiral” distribution and propagates downward to the floor at a certain angle with the vertical direction. This causes the floor rocks to generate compression and shear or tension and shear failure. 2) when the immediate roof of coal seam is the magma rock, the abutment pressure shows a trend of a slow increase initially and then a rapid increase later. The peak value of abutment pressure appears at the location of 4 - 6 meters from the coal wall of the working face, and the concentration coefficient of the abutment pressure is between 1.4 and 1.8. 3) according to the measurement and calculation of the failure depths of the floor at different positions under the same coal seam, it is found that the maximum failure depth appears near the coal wall of the working face. The failure depth reduces by 11.6% after the floor goes through “the roof caving and re-compaction”, which causes the fractures in the floor to close and the thickness of the effective aquiclude increases. In the un-mined area of the working face, the failure depth is 55% of the maximum failure depth. 4) both the theoretical calculation and the numerical simulation show that the failure depth of the floor increases obviously under the combined action of high vertical stress and the water pressure. Under the condition that the thickness of the aquiclude is relatively thin, the water pressure of the floor and pressure intensity of the roof are the sensitive factors to affect the maximum failure depth of the floor.

Evolution Law of Floor Fracture Zone above a Confined Aquifer Using Backfill Replacement Mining Technology

Disturbances owing to coal mining result in the movement and failure of floor strata. Mining-induced fractures within the floor may propagate to the confined aquifer, thereby causing water inrush disasters. In this study, we propose using strip mining and backfill replacement mining above the confined aquifer to investigate the failure depth of the floor. The problem is simplified as a distributed force model on a half-plane body. First, the stress disturbance of the floor during strip mining is calculated and the results are combined with the von Mises yield criterion. Then, the destruction of the floor after replacing the remaining coal pillars is explored. The results show that the widths of the strip mining face and coal pillars play an important role in affecting the failure depth of the floor: the greater the width, the larger the failure depth. Based on the parametric study results, the mining face and retention coal pillar width of 20 m is sufficient to prevent the occurrence of water inrush accidents. After the replacement of the remaining coal pillars, the failure area of the floor rock mass increases, but the maximum failure depth remains unchanged. Finally, we employed field measurement techniques at the Bucun coal mine to monitor the shear and vertical strains of the floor. The data collected was compared with the predicted results obtained from the proposed theoretical model. Good agreement was found between the monitoring and calculation results, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Research on a Numerical Simulation and Prediction Model of Floor Mining Failure Depth in the Chenghe Mining Area

Ordovician limestone water on the floor is a serious threat to the safety of coal mine production in the Weibei coalfield, and prediction of the floor failure depth is the key for evaluating the mining conditions under pressure. This paper combines the hydrogeological conditions of the no. 5 coal seam and uses the FLAC3D program to determine the floor failure depth under two-factor (mining depth and width) and multifactor (mining depth, width, and height) conditions via numerical calculations and analysis. We obtain the fitting formula for the floor failure depth and analyze the influence of various factors on it. The results show that when the mining width does not exceed 200 m, the mining width has the greatest influence on the floor failure depth, followed by mining depth and mining height. In this paper, the working face floor failure depths measured values of 18 flat seams in China are taken as samples for comparison with the values calculated via empirical formulas and fitting formulas, and the maximum and minimum absolute errors and relative errors are analyzed. The nonlinear fitting regression formulas offered in this paper are found to provide strong predictive value, high accuracy, and a relatively small error range. The reliability and rationality of the models are further verified, thus providing a reference for future mining operations under safe aquifer water pressure conditions in the Weibei coalfield.

Mechanical Analysis of Mining Stress Transfer on Isolated Island Face in Extra-Thick Fully Mechanized Top-Coal Caving Mining

The mining spatial structure of isolated island face in extra-thick fully mechanized top-coal caving mining is unique, which leads to a complex mining stress distribution and serious safety hazards. In this study, combined with a specific engineering example, the mining stress distribution characteristics of isolated island face are expounded, and a bearing structural mechanical model of the continuous beam of overlying strata is established using elastic–plastic mechanics theory. The mechanical equations of the mining stress distribution and failure depth of coal–rock mass are then obtained. Comparison of theoretical calculation results with numerical simulation and field measurement results shows basically consistent stress distribution characteristics. The derived mechanical equations can provide an estimation method for the analysis of mining dynamics on isolated island face in extra-thick fully mechanized top-coal caving mining. The following conclusions are acquired. The coal–rock mass should bear not only the lateral mining superposition influence but also the advance mining influence in front of the coal wall, so the isolated island face is in the complex environment of multiple mining stress superposition. In the mining process, the maximum advance mining stress concentration factor is 4.0–6.0 and is located at the upper and lower ends of the isolated island face. The lateral mining failure depth of the coal wall of the isolated island face increases by 2.0–5.0 m under the influence of advance mining. Therefore, compared with the nonisolated island face, the mining pressure appearance is intense. The mining influence in the range of 20–30 m of the upper and lower ends is intense, and the mining stress in this area is characterized by “cone distribution.” This zone is an important hidden danger area with coal–rock mass mining instability on isolated island face, which requires special attention to avoid mining disasters. According to the analysis of the influencing mining factors and laws of isolated island face, it is concluded that the longer the isolated island face size is, the closer the goaf size on both sides of the isolated island face is, the smaller the coal seam buried depth is, the better the mechanical conditions of coal and rock medium are, and the smaller the mining height of coal seam is, the more favorable the safe mining of isolated island face is.