Pressure Relief Mechanism and Gas Extraction Method during the Mining of the Steep and Extra-Thick Coal Seam: A Case Study in the Yaojie No. 3 Coal Mine

Abstract

Gas disasters, such as coal and gas outburst and gas overflow, always occur during the mining of the steep and extra-thick coal seam in the horizontal, fully mechanized, top coal slice caving (HFMTCSC) method. To solve these issues and guarantee the safe and efficient mining in the Yaojie No. 3 coal mine, 3DEC software was used in this work to investigate the overburden movement and collapse law as well as the stress redistribution and coal-seam deformation characteristics below the goaf. The results show that a pressure arch structure and a hinge structure are formed in succession in the overburden rock, which induces stress redistribution in the coal below the goaf. During the mining of the upper slice, more than 75% of the coal in the lower slice is located at the effective pressure relief zone; therefore, the steep and extra-thick coal seam can then be protected slice by slice. Meanwhile, with the increase of mining depth, the efficient pressure relief range expands. Based on this pressure relief mechanism, crossing boreholes and bedding boreholes were reasonably designed to efficiently extract the pressure relief gas during the mining of the steep and extra-thick coal seam in the Yaojie No. 3 coal mine.