Investigation lateral deformation and failure characteristics of strip coal pillar in deep mining

Abstract

In deep mining, the lateral deformation of strip coal pillar appears to be a new characteristic. In order to study the lateral deformation of coal-mass, a monitoring method and monitoring instrument were designed to investigate the lateral deformation of strip coal pillar in Tangkou Coalmine with the mining depth of over 1000 m. Because of without influence of repeated mining, the bedding sandstone roof is easy to break and the angle between maximum horizontal stress and the roadway is small, the maximum lateral deformation is only about 287 mm lower than the other pillars in the same coalmine. In deep mining, the energy accumulation and release cause a discontinuous damage in the heterogeneous coal-mass, and the lateral deformation of coal pillar shows discontinuity, step and mutation characters. These coal-masses not only show a higher plasticity but also the high brittleness at the same time, and its burst tendency is more obvious. According to the monitoring results and theoretical calculations, the yield zone of the coal pillar width is determined as 15.6 m. The monitoring results presented through this study are of great significance to the stability analysis and design of coal pillar.