Abstract
This paper presents a new numerical modeling procedure and design principle for longwall pillar design with the assistance of numerical simulation of FLAC3D. A coal mine located in Yanzhou city, Shandong Province, China, was selected for this case study. A meticulously validated numerical model was developed to investigate the stress changes across the longwall pillar with various sizes. In order to improve the reliability of the numerical modeling, a calibration procedure is undertaken to match the Salamon and Munro pillar strength formula for the coal pillar, while a similar calibration procedure is used to estimate the stress–strain response of a gob. The model results demonstrated that when the coal pillar width was 7–8 m, most of the vertical load was carried by the panel rib, whilst the gateroad was overall in a relatively low stress environment and could keep its stability with proper supports. Thus, the rational longwall pillar width was set as 8 m and the field monitoring results confirmed the feasibility of this pillar size. The proposed numerical simulation procedure and design principle presented in this study could be a viable alternative approach for longwall pillar design for other similar projects.
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