Research on abutment stress distribution of roof-cutting coalface: numerical simulation and field measurement

Abstract During the processing of deep mining, revealing the distribution of abutment pressure is significant for controlling stability of the entry. In this study, the abutment pressure distribution of roof-cutting coalface was investigated by FLAC3D and self-developed flexible detection unit (FDU). In the numerical simulation, the double-yield model was built to analyze the goaf abutment pressure under the fracturing roofs to maintain entry (FRME). Compared with the non-fracturing side, the peak value of the advanced abutment pressure on the fracturing side is reduced by 19.29% on average, the influence range (span) increases by 30.78% and the distance between the peak value and the working face increases by 66.7%. The goaf abutment pressure within 23m near the cutting side is significantly higher than other areas along the dip. The FDU was employed in the coalface to record the change of advanced abutment stress. And the field measured results are in well agreement with the numerical results.