Grout injection into bed separation to control surface subsidence during longwall mining under villages: case study of Liudian coal mine, China

Surface subsidence can cause many environmental problems and hazards (including loss of land area and damage to buildings), and such hazards are particularly serious in coal mining districts. Injecting grout into the bed separation in the overburden has been proposed as an effective control measure against surface subsidence during longwall mining. However, no field trials of this technique have been implemented in mines under villages in China, and thus, its ability to control subsidence in such areas has yet to be demonstrated. In this study, field trials using this technique were carried out during longwall mining under villages in the Liudian coal mine, China. The maximum surface subsidence observed after the extraction was only 0.298 m, which accounts for 10 % of the mining height and is 79 % less than the predicted subsidence. Moreover, no damage occurred to the village buildings either during or after extraction and these buildings remain stable. Thus, this study represents the first successful attempt to control surface subsidence under villages in China using grout injection during longwall mining.