Study on the abutment pressure distribution in top coal caving

The investigation on the deformation and failure of top coal and its roof strata is the key topic of fundamental research of the fully mechanized top coal caving method. In this paper, the mechanical model of continuous damage and failure of top coal is established based on damage mechanics and statistical strength theory. Owing to the declining of horizontal pressure in top coal during caving, the distribution of the abutment pressure is also studied. The theoretical results are in agreement with the experimental data.