Investigation on Failure Characteristics of Coal Seam Floor in Paste Filling Working Face

Water inrush disasters are extremely prone to occur if the coal seam floor contains a confined aquifer. To find out the failure behavior of coal seam floor of paste filling working face, a beam-based theoretical model for the floor aquifuge was built, and then, the water inrush risk was evaluated based on the thickness of floor aquifuge. Next, the floor failure characteristics of the paste filling face was numerically studied and the effects of the filling interval and long-term strength of the filling body on the floor failure depth, stress and displacement distributions, and plastic zone were explored. The results showed that the theoretical model for evaluating the safety of the floor of the paste filling face based on the empty roof distance is proved to be consistent with that of the empirical formula judged based on the assumption that the paste filling working face was regarded as a cut hole with a certain width. The filling interval has a significant effect on the stress concentration of the surrounding rock, failure depth of floor, and roof-floor convergence. The smaller the filling interval is, the smaller their values are. When the filling rate is 98%, the long-term strength of the filling body is 5 MPa, and the floor failure depth is not more than 4 m. In contrast, the strength of the filling body has no obvious influence on the floor failure depth, but it has a certain impact on the roof-floor convergence. From the perspective of reducing floor failure depth, there is no need to increase the long-term strength of backfill, but it is necessary to increase the early strength of backfill so as to reduce the width of the equivalent roadway.

Automated summary

When the coal seam floor contains a confined aquifer, water inrush disasters are highly likely to occur. The failure behavior of the coal seam floor in the paste filling working face can be assessed through a theoretical model and numerical analysis, with the filling interval and long-term strength of the filling body having significant impacts on the floor failure depth, stress and displacement distributions, and plastic zone.