The influence of overburden structure on mine ground pressure appearance in working face with super-large mining height: A case study in shendong mining area

The Shendong mining area where is located in the northwest of China has the highest fully mechanized working face in the world. The purpose of this paper is to understand the causes of abnormal mine ground pressure appearance (MGPA) on the fully mechanized mining working face with super-large height in Shendong mining area. Field monitoring, physical similarity material test and UDEC numerical simulation were used to investigate the influencing factors of abnormal MGPA on the super-large mining height working face. The results show that the simultaneous breaking movement of multiple key strata will transfer more load than that of a single key stratum, which intensifies the MGPA in working face. The distance between primary key stratum and coal seam determines MGPA, but this distance is limited to 115 m above the coal seam. The results of this study are of guiding significance to control the MGPA in Shendong mining area. © 2021 Materials and Energy Research Center. All rights reserved.