Design a Reasonable Width of Coal Pillar Using a Numerical Model. A case study of Khe Cham basin, Vietnam

• Main Authors: Le Quang Phuc, Zubov Vladimir, Duc Thang Pham
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2020-01-01
• Series: E3S Web of Conferences
• Online Access: https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2020/34/e3sconf_iims2020_01043.pdf

Problems in surrounding rock displacement, roadway deformation and complex support are the hallmarks of the long wall mining system. Such problems seriously affect the safety and efficient production of coal mines. To control the deformation of the rocks around the roadway next to the goaf, to reduce the support pressure, in Vietnamese underground mines often leave supporting coal pillars. Identification of a reasonable design for roadway supporting pillars by a numerical simulation study was conducted under the geological and technical foundation of I-10- 2 working faces at the Khe Cham coal mine, Vietnam . The characteristics of stress and pressure distribution of roof layers on coal pillars are modeled under different pillar widths. The results show a great linear increase of the vertical stress on the narrow coal pillar and as the width of the coal pillar increases, the area of the elastic core area also increases and the level of stress increase tends to be stable without any apparent uptrend. Coal pillar deformation decreases with increasing coal pillar width, but it leads to large coal loss and waste of resources. Therefore, with the current supporting solutions to increase the stability of the coal pillar, the size range of a coal pillar is determined to be 6-8 m through numerical simulation. The conclusions obtained may provide a certain reference number to choose the logical location of the furnace lines under similar geological conditions.