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Research and application of roadway backfill coal mining technology in western coal mining area

Arabian Journal of Geosciences volume 9, Article number: 558 (2016) Cite this article

Abstract

In China’s western coal mining area, the traditional room mining technology is facing coal pillar instability, mine earthquake, large-area roof subsidence in the goaf, surface subsidence, water and soil loss, vegetation deterioration, and other environmental problems. To solve the aforementioned problems and to improve coal recovery, the roadway backfill coal mining (RBCM) method was proposed as a solution and its technical principle and key equipment were presented in this paper. In addition, the microstructure and mechanical behavior (strain-stress relation in confined compressive test) of aeolian sand and loess backfill materials were studied for a rational backfill design for underground mines. Further, coal pillar stress, plastic zone change, and surface deformation of the RBCM schemes were studied using the FLAC3D numerical simulation software, and a reasonable mining scheme of “mining 7 m and leaving 3 m” was determined. The engineering application in Changxing Coal Mine shows that the RBCM method with loess and aeolian sand as backfill materials allows a stable recovery of coal pillars with a recovery ratio of more than 70 %. The maximum accumulated surface subsidence and the maximum horizontal deformation were measured to be 15 mm and 0.8 mm/m respectively, indicating that the targeted backfilling effect can help protect the environment and also control surface subsidence.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, CUMT (SKLCRSM13X01), Qing Lan Project Foundation of Jiangsu Province (2014), and National Key Basic Research Program of China (2013CB227905). The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the organizations mentioned above.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining (CUMT), Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Jixiong Zhang

  2. School of Mines, China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT), Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Jixiong Zhang, Qiang Sun, Nan Zhou, Jiang Haiqiang, Deon Germain & Sami Abro

  3. Faculty of Science, University of Mahajanga, 401, Mahajanga, Region Boeny, Madagascar

    Deon Germain

  4. Government Polytechnic Institute, Mining Technology, Mithi, 69230, Pakistan

    Sami Abro

Authors
  1. Jixiong Zhang
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  2. Qiang Sun
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  3. Nan Zhou
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  4. Jiang Haiqiang
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  5. Deon Germain
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  6. Sami Abro
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Correspondence to Jixiong Zhang or Qiang Sun.

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Zhang, J., Sun, Q., Zhou, N. et al. Research and application of roadway backfill coal mining technology in western coal mining area. Arab J Geosci 9, 558 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2585-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2585-5

Keywords

  • Room mining
  • Roadway backfill coal mining
  • Environment protection
  • Surface subsidence