Stability control of a goaf-side roadway under the mining disturbance of an adjacent coal working face in an underground mine

Abstract

Goaf-side roadway driving could not only notably reduce the loss of coal resources and improve the coal recovery rates, but also greatly mitigate the imbalance between excavation speed and production needs, which are able to prolong the service life of the mine and are pivotal to sustainable and efficient development of underground coal mines. However, it is difficult to control the stability of the goaf-side roadway, especially under mining disturbance of another adjacent coal working face. In order to control the stability of the goaf-side roadway, Haulageway 1513 in the Xinyi Coal Mine of China, under mining disturbance, theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and engineering practice were carried out to reveal the mechanism of overburden key strata fracture, stress distribution, and deformation characteristics of the surrounding rock of the goaf-side roadway due to mining disturbance. Results showed that some key strata above Goaf 1512 did not fracture due to the influence of the strata caving angles. However, these key strata would fracture and break into rock blocks when suffering from mining disturbance of the adjacent coal working face, which changed the stress distribution and increased the deformations of the surrounding rock of the goaf-side roadway. The combined techniques of pressure relief and bolt support were proposed and carried out to control the stability of the goaf-side roadway. Engineering practice indicated that the maximum deformations of the roof and sidewall-to-sidewall were 220 mm and 470 mm, respectively. The deformations of the goaf-side roadway under mining disturbance were efficiently controlled.