Fracture characteristics of basic roof and mechanism of strata behavior in a pillarless working face

As a research hotspot, pillarless coal mining technology has a high resource recovery rate and low roadway surrounding rock stress. To grasp the three-dimensional fracture characteristics of the basic roof is the basic to reveal the strata behavior mechanism in the pillarless working face. Thus, aiming at pillarless coal mining, the analytical solution of three-dimensional fracture mechanics models of a basic roof was analyzed by elastic thin plate theory; the principal stress distribution of a basic roof being cut by continuous artificial fractures and discontinuous artificial fractures was analyzed; the fracture characteristics of the basic roof was revealed and the strata behavior mechanism was obtained. The following conclusions can be drawn: (i) an ‘O + X’ fracture occurred in the basic roof of a traditional working face, while an opposite-trapezoid-shaped or ≡-shaped fracture was generated in the pillarless working face. (ii) When the basic roof broke, the trapezoidal or rectangular hinged plate traversed the entire pillarless working face, causing the end supports to be pressured, while the trapezoidal hinged plate did not traverse the entire traditional working face and the end supports were not pressured. (iii) The break of a basic roof induced by artificial fractures in pillarless mining reduced or even eliminated the triangular hinged plate area along the goaf edges, making a roadway in the stress relief zone. (iv) Compared with the fractures in traditional roadways and in a discontinuous roof-cutting roadway, continuous fractures could minimize surrounding rock stress and make it easy to maintain a roof-cutting roadway.

Study on Optimization of Delay Method of Wedge Cut Blasting in Tunnel

Relying on the entrance section of a high-speed railway tunnel blasting project, the fluid-solid coupling algorithm based on ANSYS/LS-DYNA was used to optimize the parameters of wedge cut blasting, and the vibration could be reduced on the basis of ensuring the blasting effect. Through the combination of visual numerical simulation results and rock-breaking mechanism of wedge cut blasting, the maximum vibration velocity of different monitoring points in the model under different segmented time delay was analyzed. The results show that the best method for detonation is dividing the blastholes into three segments from upper to lower and dividing the left and right symmetrical blastholes into one segment. When the delay time is 10 ms, the average vibration reduction ratio is the best, which is reduced by 18% compared with the six-hole simultaneous blasting. In addition, the actual surrounding rock stress has a clamping effect on the cut blasting area. The wedge cut blasting footage obtained by numerical simulation was basically consistent with the field results, which proved that the model is reasonable and effective. This study intuitively and accurately demonstrated the process of cut blasting, the superposition curve of vibration velocity and the vibration reduction results under different delay times, and the effect of cut blasting. The results can be directly applied to similar projects, and the optimal blasting parameters and related issues can be solved more accurately with the help of this engineering analysis method.

An Experimental Research on Surrounding Rock Unloading during Solid Coal Roadway Excavation

In order to further explore the deformation and failure essence of the deep coal body, based on the characteristics of surrounding rock stress adjustment before and after solid coal roadway excavation, an experiment of unloading confining pressure and loading axial pressure of the coal body was designed and conducted in this study. Based on test results, the failure mechanics and energy characteristics of the coal body were analyzed through experiments. Rapid unloading is considered a key factor contributing to lateral deformation and expansion failure, which exacerbates the deterioration of coal body and reduces the deformation energy storage capacity of coal. On the other hand, the larger loading rate tends to shorten the accumulation time of microcracks and cause damage to the coal body, resulting in strengthening the coal body and improving energy storage. Under the circumstance that the coal body is destroyed, the conversion rates of the internal deformation energy and dissipated energy are more significantly affected by unloading rate. The increasing unloading rate and rapid decreases in the conversion rate of deformation energy make the coal body more vulnerable to damage. Under the same stress conditions, the excavation unloading is more likely to deform, destroy, or even throw the coal than the experiment unloading. In order to reduce or avoid the occurrence of deep roadway excavation accidents, the understanding of the excavation unloading including possible influencing factors and the monitoring of the surrounding rock stress and energy during the excavation disturbance should be strengthened. It can be used as the basis for studying the mechanism of deformation and failure of coal and rock and dynamic disasters in deep mines, as well as the prediction, early warning, prevention, and control of related dynamic disasters.

A Case Study of Optimization and Application of Soft-Rock Roadway Support in Xiaokang Coal Mine, China

The roadway of S2S2 fully mechanized caving face (FMCF) in Xiaokang Coal Mine is one of the most typical deep-buried soft-rock roadways in China and had been repaired several times. In order to figure out the failure reasons of the original roadway support, the geological conditions were investigated, the surrounding rock stress was monitored, the rib displacement, roof separation, and floor heave were in situ measured, and the performance of the U-shaped steel support was simulated. The above analysis results indicated that the support failure was mainly caused by (1) the unreasonable arch roadway section, (2) the high and complex surrounding rock stress, (3) the failure control of the floor heave, and (4) the inadequate self-supporting capacity of the surrounding rock. For optimizing, the roadway section was changed to circle and a new full-section combined support system of “belt-cable-mesh-shotcrete and U-shaped steel-filling behind the support” was adopted, which could specifically control the floor heave, allow the roadway deformation in control, and improve the self-supporting ability and stress field of the surrounding rock. To determine the support parameters, the selected U-shaped steel support was verified by simulation, and various bolt-cable support schemes were simulated and compared. Finally, such an optimized support scheme was applied in the roadway of the next replacement FMCF. The in situ monitoring showed that the rib-to-rib convergence and roof-to-floor convergence were both controlled within 600 mm, which indicated that the roadway was effectively controlled. This case study has important reference value and guiding function for the optimal design of the soft-rock roadway support with similar geological conditions.

Analysis on Characteristics of Surrounding Rocks of Roadway and Bearing Structure Based on Stress Regulation

To address the prominent status of great deformation and difficult maintenance of the roadway under high stresses, this study investigated the mechanical characteristics of surrounding rocks and bearing structural stability in a roadway under adjustment and redistribution of stresses through theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and engineering field test. Stability forms of the bearing structure of roadway surrounding rocks were analyzed by using the axis-changing theory from the perspectives of surrounding rock, mechanical properties of roadways, surrounding rock stress distribution, and mechanical mechanism of the bearing structure. It is suggested that the surrounding rock stress distribution state is improved and the bearing structure is optimized through unloading and reinforcement construction. A mechanical model of roadway excavation was constructed to analyze the influences of excavation spatial effect on the stress releasing and bearing structure of surrounding rocks. A rock postpeak strain softening and dilatation model was introduced to investigate the mechanical characteristics of the surrounding rock mass in the rupture residual zone and plastic softening zone in a roadway. Moreover, we analyzed the influences of unloading and reinforcement construction on the stress path and mechanical characteristics of the rock unit model, which disclosed the adjustment mechanism of the bearing structure of surrounding rocks by the failure development status of rocks. A numerical simulation on the distribution of surrounding rock stress fields and adjustment features of the bearing structure after roadway excavation and unloading and reinforcement construction was carried out by using the FLAC3D program. Results demonstrate that the unloading construction optimizes the axial ratio of spatial excavation in a roadway and the reinforcement zones on both sides are the supporting zones of the bearing structure. Moreover, the ratio between the distance from two side peaks to the roadway sides and the distance from the roof and floor peaks to the excavation space is equal to the coefficient of horizontal pressure. In other words, the final collapse failure mode of surrounding rock is that the long axis of the excavation unloading space points to the same direction with the maximum principal stress of the primary rock. Reinforcement forces the surrounding rocks to form a “Ω-shaped” bearing structure, which is in favor of the long-term maintenance of the roadway.

Application of Improved Single-Hole Superposition Theory in Nonequal Cross-Section Tunnel Intersection

With the excavation towards the intersecting tunnels’ direction, the impact on the surrounding rock stress between the two tunnels will gradually decrease, but how it decreased is not clear. At present, engineers often directly superimpose the stress in the triangular area of the crossing tunnel when calculating the stress in this area (single-hole superposition theory). The theory is also used as the main theory to consider the surrounding rock stress for support which is difficult to explain the situation of nonuniform cross-section centers not in the same plane. The safety level of support is mainly determined by construction experience which is unable to determine how to adjust the support level with the increase in the horizontal distance of intersecting tunnel, causing the insufficient utilization of materials. This paper derives theoretically the stress calculation of the triangular area of circular cross tunnels with different cross sections and analyzes the surrounding rock stress law of the intersecting tunnels triangular area from different cross-section dimensions (the difference in diameter between the two tunnels is twice, 3 times, and 4 times) and different intersection angles. And the results show that, compared with the case of equal tunnel diameters, the stress influence area of the surrounding rock in the triangle area mainly expands to the side of the small section with the increase of the cross-section difference of the intersecting tunnels; the dangerous area of the surrounding rock in the triangle area moves vertically to the small section; the safest condition is the two tunnels with 90° intersecting angle. The theoretical calculation model of this paper is verified by the previous research results.

Study on Deformation Mechanism and Supporting Countermeasures of Compound Roofs in Loose and Weak Coal Roadways

This paper considers the 333 return airway of the Gaokeng Coal Mine to analyze the deformation characteristics and failure mechanism of the surrounding rock of the composite roof for a loose and weak coal roadway. The reasons for the large deformation are explored and the superiority of the prestressed truss and anchor rope is compared to ordinary anchor cables from the perspective of mechanics to propose a targeted coal roadway support method. Sinking of the composite roof in the coal roadway is accompanied with a release and transfer of the surrounding rock stress. The pressure of the composite roof transfers to the roadway sides and intensifies the fracture process of the coal body. As a result, the ability to support the composite roof is weakened, and it further bends and sinks to form a vicious cycle that repeats itself. Therefore, the support of the composite roof in the coal roadway should consider the roof, roadway sides, and floor as a single unit to achieve the support goal of reinforcing the roadway sides and roof. Based on the above analysis, a comprehensive control technology with a truss and anchor rope is proposed as the main body and a bolt + anchor cable + metal network as the auxiliary. This technology can improve the integral bearing capacity of the composite roof, strengthen the roadway side structures, and reinforce the roadway sides and roof. Numerical simulation and field application results show that the support scheme can effectively realize safe control of the composite roof in coal roadways.

Stress Evolution Law of Surrounding Rock with Gob-Side Entry Retaining by Roof Cutting and Pressure Release in Composite Roof

The stress concentration of gob-side entry surrounding rock is a hot topic in coal mining. In this paper, through theoretical analysis and numerical simulation, the pressure relief mechanism of the gob-side entry retaining by roof cutting and pressure release (RCPR) and the spatiotemporal development law of surrounding rock stress of the gob-side entry were analyzed. The studies showed that the gob-side entry retaining by RCPR shortened the length of the lateral cantilever by directional roof cutting, which weakened the stress level of the gob-side entry. In the meantime, the goaf gangues could play a good filling role by using their breaking and swelling characteristics under the action of gangue-blocking supports and further optimized the stress environment along the roadway. Field industrial tests verified that the gob-side entry retaining by RCPR had a significant effect on pressure relief, and the surrounding rock stress and deformation tended to stabilize after about 160 m of lagging working face. Numerical analysis reproduced the whole process of “mining-retention-using” of roof cutting roadway and revealed that surrounding rocks were always in the zone of relative stress reduction during the whole process. The peak value of mining-induced lateral stress was about 10 m away from the middle point of the gob-side entry. The change of surrounding rock stress could be divided into three stages: significant increase, dynamic adjustment, and stable stage. However, during the second mining, the stress connected zone would appear on the leading working face, and the stress concentration in this zone was significant. Based on the above analysis, we concluded that the new technology could be applied to the medium-thickness coal seam in the composite roof.