Top coal control in face of soft thick seam in long wall with top coal caving

Some top coal controlling results in soft thick seam of long wall with top coal caving have been introduced. The paper points out that it si easy for top coal to collapse in face. The best way to control is designing reasonable structure of support and adopting efficient mining mode. The support design should obey these rules: complete beam, long side-protect plane and extension bar. The operating mode needs to obey: moving support quickly, sliding advance of support. These techniques have been applied widely in China and obtained good technical-economic results.