38 / 2023-03-29 21:50:42

Movement characteristics of overlying strata in deep mining with giant-thickness weakly cemented overburden in the bordering area of Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, China

movement characteristics of overburden,deep mining,giant-thick weakly cemented overburden,similar simulation test,UDEC numerical simulation

Coal is still an important fossil energy in the world. The bordering area of Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, located in the north-central area of Ordos Basin, has a large amount of high-quality and stable coal resources, which supports the development of the economy of China. However, the coal resources in this area are buried deeper than 700m, and the Cretaceous Zhidan Group sandstone formation at the upper level has the weak lithology and great thickness. Such kind of special mining conditions significantly increase the risk of sudden release of huge amount of accumulated deformation energy due to breakage of huge rock layers caused by mining under high ground stress, which leads to serious underground dynamic disasters and surface collapse. Nevertheless, most of the existing investigations around the overburden movement behavior in Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia regions of China are focused on the mining areas with shallow buried depth of coal seams, such as Shendong coalfield. The research on deep mining is still in the exploratory stage. In this study, Yingpanhao Coal Mine located in Uxin Qi, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was used as the test site. Combined with similar simulation test and UDEC numerical modeling experiment, the characteristics of overburden movement under deep mining conditions with giant-thick weakly cemented overburden were analyzed. And a suitable mechanical model was initially constructed based on the experimental results. This work offers an important reference for solving the issues related to coal resource development and safety production and surface ecological protection under analogous geo-mining conditions.