ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 11 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2025.1666542
Stability analysis and support scheme optimization design of roadway surrounding rock in shallow coal seam with thin bedrock
Provisionally accepted
- Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, China
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This study examines the stability of surrounding rock in the 3-1 coal mining roadway of Hejiata Coal Mine, focusing on shallow coal seams with thin bedrock. This study conducts laboratory tests, similar material simulations, and numerical modeling. It first analyzes the mechanical behavior of roof and floor rocks, then proposes an optimized roadway support system based on the analysis results. Results indicate the weathered rock and floor mudstone exhibit unstable characteristics, while the immediate roof composed of medium-grained sandstone and main roof of fine-grained sandstone demonstrate overall instability with localized medium stability. Water immersion tests reveal weathered rock develops initial bedding cracks followed by annular fractures before stabilizing, whereas mudstone experiences continuous argillization leading to progressive surface cracking. The immediate roof shows initial caving at 18m, with the main roof's first weighting occurring at 36m, followed by periodic fractures every 8 to 16m. At 78m advancement, overlying strata collapse in a distinctive arc rock pillar formation. Stress analysis shows that mining induces stress redistribution in surrounding rock. This redistribution creates localized stress concentration zones and forms an arch-shaped stress relief area in the roof and floor strata. Abutment pressure evolution reveals increasing peak values and influence ranges below 140m advancement, transitioning to intensified stress concentration upon roof-floor contact beyond this threshold. Deformation monitoring shows progressive increases in roof displacement and floor heave, with maximum values occurring near the goaf center. The optimized support design specifies bolts with 2.1m length, 20mm diameter, 0.8m spacing, and 25kN pre-tightening force, complemented by anchor cables measuring 5m in length, 15.24mm in diameter, spaced at 2.4m intervals, with 70kN pre-tightening force and 180kN anchoring capacity.
Keywords: Mining engineering, Shallow coal seam, Mechanical Properties, Stability of surrounding rock, Support optimization
Received: 10 Aug 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Ji, Guo, Fu and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Pei Zhang, 15373028752@163.com
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