Study on deflection of principal stress and deformation characteristics of roadway surrounding rock under mining action in close-distance coal seams

Abstract

The traditional index to determine the width of the stopping coal pillar (WSCP) is generally only the front abutment pressure, but the direction of the principal stress will deflect due to the mining action, which brings significant challenges to controlling the surrounding rock. Based on theoretical calculation and numerical simulation, we studied the deflection law of principal stress under mining action, quantified the bearing capacity of roadway surrounding rock, and determined WSCP. The results show that: (1) With the deflection of the principal stress, the distribution of the surrounding rock plastic zone also rotates; (2) $\lambda$ and repeated mining dominate and aggravate the deflection angle and range of the principal stress in front of the working face, respectively. When $\lambda$ is close to 1, the deflection of principal stress should be paid attention to in determining WSCP; (3) The anchorage composite bearing structure (ACBS) provides a scientific basis for quantifying the bearing capacity of surrounding rock. WSCP of the lower coal seam is determined to be 60–75 m, and the corresponding principal stress deflection is about 135°. The control of the surrounding rock in the diagonal direction where the maximum principal stress is concentrated should be paid attention to.

Keywords:

• Close-distance coal seams
• mining action
• principal stress deflection
• ACBS
• WSCP
• surrounding rock control

Acknowledgments

The authors also thank the reviewers for their helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data used to support the findings of this research are included within the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51974317), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2022YJSNY09), the China Scholarship Council (No.202106430048, 202106430055).