Characteristics and control technology of face-end roof leaks subjected to repeated mining in close-distance coal seams

The roof usually collapses when exposed to the repeated underground mining; this will potentially lead to the instability of coal wall and even cause serious mining disasters. Based on this specific mining hazard, this work investigates the roof leak characteristics and corresponding control technology based on a coal mine in Guizhou province, China. The theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and physical testing were carried out. By establishing a physical model, the roof structure and roof “pressure” law under repeated mining are studied, and the instable conditions of face-end roof are analyzed, so as to determine the influencing factors of face-end roof instability. By analyzing different roof structures, the working resistance of hydraulic support with stable face-end roof under repeated mining is determined. The leakage of face-end roof under different support working resistance, tip-to-face distance, and surrounding rock strength is simulated, and different methods are proposed to control face-end roof leaks. The results show that in the process of 17# coal seam mining, the roof collapse is serious, the roof pressure is frequent, and the broken roof instability would form the “granular arch” structure. Through the analysis of the roof structure, the tip-to-face distance, the strength of granular arch structure, and the working resistance of the hydraulic support affect the stability of the face-end roof. Using UDEC simulation software, it is obtained that the higher the strength of roof and surrounding rock, the smaller the tip-to-face distance, the more stable the face-end roof is. The prevention measures such as strengthening the broken face-end roof under repeated mining, improving the support strength of the working face hydraulic support and controlling the reasonable tip-to-face distance are put forward. Through field application, the face-end roof leaks have been effectively controlled, which has played a good reference for the prevention and control of face-end roof leaks under repeated mining.