Compared with gentle dip long-wall caving,the length of a working face in fully-mechanized top-coal caving for extremely steep and thick seams is short,while its horizontal section is high with increasing production.But the caving ratio is low,which might result in some disasters,such as roof falls,induced by local and large area collapse of the top coal in a working face and dangers induced by gas accumulation. After the development of cracks and weakening of the coal body,the tall,broken section of the top coal（a granular medium）of an extremely steep seam（over 60°）shows clear characteristics of nonlinear movement.We have thoroughly analyzed the geological environment and mining conditions of an excavation disturbed zone.Based on the results from a physical experiment of large-scale 3D modeling and coupling simulation of top coal-water-gas,we conclude that the weakened top coal can be regarded as a non-continuous medium.We used a particle flow code program to compare and analyze migration processes and the movements of a 30 m high section top coal over time before and after weakening of an extremely steep seam in the Weihuliang coal mine.The results of our simulation, experiment and monitoring show that pre-injection of water and pre-splitting blasting improve caving ability and symmetrical caving,relieve space for large area dynamic collapse of top coal,prolong migration time of noxious gases and release them from the mined out area and so achieve safety in mining.
Horizontal section top-coal(HSTCC)caving offers a powerful method to efficiently excavate rude coal in steep and thick seams,and pre-blasting weakening has a profound effect on pursuing great production,high efficiency and good benefit under particular conditions like a small-scale working face with large-scale sectional caving height.+564-level HSTCC working face in B3–6coal seams of Jiangou Colliery in Urumqi was taken as study case for in situ industrial experiment.Total thickness of seams in the study case is about 50.0 m and average angel here is over 83°.In the industrial experiments,at first we adopted continuous charge machine and emulsion matrix explosive to substitute for traditional blasting schemes for specific geological settings in the study case.Hybrid analyses and assessments with blasting crack propagation analysis,abutment pressure monitoring prediction and economical benefit assessment were attributed to be able to attest pre-blasting weakening effects practically.Meanwhile crack propagation analysis after pre-blasting weakening showed that in all triple monitoring bore holes rock masses of top-coal would be fallen into three stages from the bottom up:fracture zone,plastic zone and elastic zone generally,and fracture toughness respectively in correspondent zones was calculated by the analytical formula:0.5616–0.8806,0.6403–0.9541 and0.7535–1.1900 MPa m1/2after pre-blasting weakening.Pressure monitoring prediction and economical benefit assessment also indicated that it was necessary to introduce the pre-blasting weakening with predominant blasting scheme from both views.For excavation in extremely steep and thick coal seams,relevant results would be a useful tool to study the mechanism of pre-blasting weakening both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Lai XingpingShan PengfeiCao JiantaoSun HuanSuo ZhengyongCui Feng
