Physical Simulation Experimental Study on Fault Activation based on Total Station Polar Coordinate Method

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Based on the observation principle of total station polar coordinate method, this paper studies the development rule of the fault zone fracture when the working face is pushed from the footwall to the normal fault, and analyzes the fault activation sequence, time and slippage of different fault layers. The results show that the facture firstly generates at the high-level of the fault, gradually develops to the low-level and eventually connects to the gob. In the meantime, the fracture experiences the process from scaling to decreasing to closing. Fault activation is a dynamic continuous process that occurs firstly at the high-level, and gradually develops to the low-level, eventually spreads to the whole fault. The footwall strata subsidence is larger than the hanging wall’s. The fault slipping tendency is similar to the footwall subsiding tendency. The footwall strata migrate more violently than the hanging wall. The fault begins to activate when the distance between the working face and the fault (L0) is 50 m. The fault activation mainly occurs at the high and middle levels when L0 is larger than 20 m, but the low-level activation is primary when L0 is less than 20 m. The fault slippage is the largest when L0 is less than 10 m where the fault activates violently. Therefore, the control of the low-level activation disasters should be strengthened.