In order to study the distribution laws and types of plastic zone of surrounding rock in large-span roadway, we analyzed the distribution laws with different spans and lateral pressures using FLAC 3D numerical calculation software. Based on the roadway support difficulty and distribution laws of the plastic zone of surrounding rock, we defined the large-span roadway and classified the types of large-span rectangular roadways. As a result, the distribution laws of the plastic zone on surrounding rock in a rectangular roadway with different spans and lateral pressures were obtained. The results show that the area of the plastic zone on surrounding rock increased with the increase of the spans and lateral pressures, and the plastic zone was symmetrical to the center line of roadway. At k = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0, the plastic zone presented "addleshape" distribution, "ellipse" distribution, "thin and high" distribution and "inverse trapezium" distribution, respectively. In addition, we classified the roadways into four types according to the different lateral pressures and spans, including small-span, moderate-span, large-span and extreme-large-span roadways.
