Study on Numerical Models in Predicting Surface Deformation Caused by Underground Coal Mining

Abstract

Accurate prediction of surface deformation due to the extraction of underground coal seams is a significant challenge in geotechnical engineering. This task is further compounded by the growing trend for coal to be extracted under buildings by leaving coal pillars in place. To rationalize the design of mining schemes to ensure effective control of surface deformation, precise 3D numerical models of different mining schemes were developed in this paper. Two schemes were compared and analyzed based on the results of numerical simulations. Also, to verify the reliability of the prediction results from numerical simulations, the probability integral method was used for this prediction. The results show that the prediction results of the numerical simulations are close to those calculated by the probabilistic integral method, which proves the reliability of the numerical simulation prediction. The optimal mining scheme was determined by comparing the predicted results from the analysis of theoretical calculations and numerical simulations.