Influence of different mining layouts on the mechanical properties of coal

Non-pillar mining, top-coal caving and protected coal seam mining are the most popular mining methods in coal exploitation, and the different mining layouts will change the stress state and failure mechanism of coal in front of the working face. In this paper, mining-induced mechanical behaviors under three mining layouts have been simulated in the laboratory to investigate the effects of mining layouts on the deformation and strength of coal. Furthermore, the coal failure mechanism under different mining layouts is analyzed microscopically. The experimental results indicate that the stage characteristics of the coal deformation are obvious. Under the serial action of non-pillar mining, top-coal caving and protected coal seam mining layouts, the values of radial deformation, volume strain and Poisson's ratio increase, while the peak strength and deformation modulus decrease at the same buried depth, and the peak strength under non-pillar mining, top-coal caving and protected coal seam mining is about 3.0, 2.5 and 2.0 times of the initial confining pressure, respectively. The results also indicate that the trend of the coal deformation decreases with the increase of the buried depth under the same mining layout, while the strength and deformation modulus increase, and the failure mechanism under three mining layouts is dominated with shear/tensile failure. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China University of Mining & Technology.