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Cooperative Failure of Overburden-Surface and Its Control Measures in Longwall Mining

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Abstract

The failure form of overburden and surface is an important basis for developing mining damage control and ecological restoration measures. For high-intensity mining, the failure forms were divided into three categories to analyse the breaking law of key strata, the form of structural instability, the development characteristics of water-conducting fractures, and the dynamic evolution process of surface cracks through the UDEC numerical simulation and field observation. The results indicate that the whole cutting of overburden leads to the formation of step-like ground fissures (sinkholes) with large height difference when the surface in the caved zone with single key stratum. The primary key stratum forms the step beam structure and loses stability periodically when the surface in the fracture zone. The distribution of ground fissures is mainly tensile type, supplemented by step-like ground fissures with a relatively small height difference. The primary key stratum fracture incompletely, and forms tensile ground fissures with small width and “self-repaired” when the surface in the sagging zone. Then the effective control measures can be proposed based on the summarized damage level of production safety and ecological environment in high-intensity mining.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Educational Committee (No. 2022AH050839); Scientific Research Foundation for High-level Talents of Anhui University of Science and Technology (2021yjrc11); National Natural Science Foundation of China (52104155), the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (8212032), and the Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Mining-induced Response and Disaster Prevention and Control in Deep Coal Mines (SKLMRDPC19KF08).

Funding

Funding was provided by Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Educational Committee (No. 2022AH050839); Scientific Research Foundation for High-level Talents of Anhui University of Science and Technology (2021yjrc11); National Natural Science Foundation of China (52104155), the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (8212032), and the Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Mining-induced Response and Disaster Prevention and Control in Deep Coal Mines (SKLMRDPC19KF08).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Mining-Induced Response and Disaster Prevention and Control in Deep Coal Mines, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, 232001, China

    Xiang He, Cun Zhang, Ke Yang & Shuai Liu

  2. School of Mining Engineering, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, 232001, Anhui, China

    Xiang He, Cun Zhang, Ke Yang & Shuai Liu

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

    Penghua Han

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

    Xiang He, Cun Zhang & Penghua Han

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  1. Xiang He
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Correspondence to Cun Zhang.

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He, X., Zhang, C., Yang, K. et al. Cooperative Failure of Overburden-Surface and Its Control Measures in Longwall Mining. Geotech Geol Eng 41, 3587–3604 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02475-9

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