Xianyang Yu

Due to the impact of disordered mining activities in previous years, numerous abandoned roadways exist in the second mining district of the 13# coal seam in Chejiazhuang Coal Mine. The stability of the new roadway roof was analyzed under various distributions of abandoned roadways above. It was determined that the ultimate stable thickness of the coal layer between the new and abandoned roadways is 4.0 m. When the thickness between the two is less than 4.0 m, the roof becomes unstable after excavation, posing a risk of collapse. Advanced grouting reinforcement is required to enhance roof stability before installing U-shaped steel arches. Mechanical experiments were conducted on the polymer grouting consolidation of fractured coal, showing a significant increase in residual strength compared to intact coal. Furthermore, the uniaxial compressive strength of the polymer grouting consolidation partially recovered. On average, the consolidation coefficient and recovery coefficient were 5.28 and 85.51%, respectively. Grouting increased the ductility of the fractured surrounding rock, enhancing its resistance to deformation and plasticity. A polymer grouting consolidation technology for supporting fractured surrounding rock under the unstable roof of abandoned roadways is proposed, along with the design of corresponding support schemes and parameters. Monitoring the results of mine pressure indicated that the surrounding rock remained stable after roadway excavation, validating the effectiveness of the support schemes and parameters.

A dynamic numerical method is established to simulate the stability of the surrounding rocks of the retained roadway in FLAC3D, along with a double-yield constitutive model to simulate the re-compaction process of gangue and a strain-softening constitutive model to simulate the strain-softening characteristic of the coal and the grouted fragmented coal after yielding. The simulation reveals that the grouting slurry diffusion range, the mining affecting the stage behind the working face and the retained coal rib deformation are closely interrelated. Under severe mining-induced stress, the integrity of the surrounding rock is more likely to be destroyed, accompanied by a large number of cracks developing and gradually expanding in the surrounding rocks. The roadway deformation increases in a rapid manner. Meanwhile, the grouting diffusing range increases gradually. The simulation conducted in this study indicates that the optimum support effect can be achieved by grouting in the section before and after the working face affected by the high mining-induced stress. A timely grouting can be used to construct an enhanced surrounding rock-bolting-grouting support system and maintain the stability of the retained roadway.

Gob‐side entry retained with roadside filling (GER‐RF) plays a key role in achieving coal mining without pillar and improving the coal resource recovery rate. Since there are few reports on the cyclic filling length of GER‐RF, a method based on the stress difference method is proposed to determine the cyclic filling length of GER‐RF. Firstly, a stability analysis mechanics model of the immediate roof above the roadside filling area was established, and then, the relationship between the roof stress distribution and the unsupported roof length was obtained by the stress difference method. According to the roof stability above the roadside filling area based on the relationship between the roof stress and its tensile strength, the maximum unsupported roof length and rational cyclic filling length were determined. Combined with the geological conditions of the 1103 thin coal seam working face of Heilong Coal Mine and the 1301 thick coal seam working face of Licun Coal Mine, the suggested method was applied to determine that the rational cyclic filling lengths were 2.4 m and 3.2 m, respectively. Field trial tests show that the suggested method can effectively control the surrounding rock deformation along with rational road‐in support and roadside support and improve the filling and construction speed.

The retained rib displacement accounts for roughly 80% of rib‐to‐rib convergence in gob‐side entry retaining in deep coal mines, which shows significant nonsymmetrical feature and long‐term rheological phenomenon. Affected by mining‐induced stress, cracks spread widely, and broken zones expand beyond the anchoring range. Without grouting and supplementary support in retained rib, the surrounding rock‐support load‐bearing structure will be in a postpeak failure state, and the anchoring force of the bolting system will be greatly attenuated. After grouting, the compressive strength of grouting geocomposite specimen is significantly higher than the postpeak residual strength of the intact coal specimen, and it is partially restored compared to that of the intact coal specimen. The ductility of the fractured coal specimen increases after grouting, and it has stronger elasticity and plasticity. Broken rock block can become a whole with coordinated bearing capacity, and its stability is improved after grouting. The grouting technique could restore the integrity and strength of the fractured retained coal rib, repair the damaged bolting structure, and make the surrounding rock and supporting structure become an effective bearing structure again. The research result shows that it is feasible to restore the bearing capacity of the retained coal rib by grouting technique.

Taking gob-side entry retaining with large mining height (GER-LMH) of the 4211 panel in the Liujiazhuang coal mine as the engineering background, a numerical simulation was conducted to study the surrounding rock deformation, stress, and plastic zone distribution of GER-LMH with respect to retained entry width. The concept of critical retained entry width of GER-LMH was proposed. In view of the deformation characteristics of surrounding rock, an innovative approach to determine the critical width of GER-LMH based on the cusp catastrophe theory was proposed. The cusp catastrophe functions were set up by approximate roadside backfill body rib convergence and roof subsidence series with respect to different retained entry widths. The critical retained entry width of GER-LMH was 4.0 m according to bifurcation set equations. Surrounding rock stability control principle and technique of GER-LMH was proposed, including “rib strengthening and roof control”: road-in support with high pre-stress rockbolts and anchor cables, roadside backfill body construction technology with high-water quick consolidated filling materials and counter-pulled rockbolt, road-in reinforced support technology with hydraulic prop support and roof master. Field test and field monitoring results show that GER-LMH with supercritical retained entry width in the 4211 panel could meet the requirements for ventilation when the 4211 panel was retreating.