Dynamic sublevel caving technology for thick seams with large dip angle in longwall top coal caving (LTCC)

Dynamic sublevel caving technology (DSCT) proposed by the researchers is one of effective methods to solve the problems of low top coal recovery, poor drawing balance and support stability in longwall top coal caving (LTCC) with large dip angle. To investigate the reasonable number of supports in a sublevel (N) and the top coal drawing mechanisms under DSCT, this research takes Panel 7401 in Zouzhuang Coal Mine as the geological background. Firstly, the optimal threshold value of N is theoretically analyzed, and the numerical simulations of drawing experiments under different Ns are calculated. The results show that when N = 3, the top coal recovery is the highest, the number of excessive drawing top coal at the upper end is relatively small, and the drawing balance is great, which is conducive to improving the resource recovery and safety management. With increasing N, the over-development of right top coal boundary towards the upper end increases, the range of coal ridge in the lower sublevel also gradually increases, while the strong force chain area at the upper end gradually decreases, resulting in the support stability becoming worse. In addition, the displacement of top coal at the upper end gradually increases with increasing N, and the permanent loss feature of residual top coal exists in the upper sublevel. The field top coal recovery under DSCT was measured finally, obtaining that DSCT can improve the top coal recovery by about 5% and promote the stability and working efficiency of the support. The research results have great theoretical and guiding significance for the high yield and high efficiency LTCC technology for thick coal seam with large dip angle.