Cutting roof and release pressure technology has changed the pressure transmission mode of the roof and the caving characteristics of roof rock, which in turn has changed the permeability evolution of the gob. To obtain the permeability characteristics of the gob for the roof cutting and pressure releasing mining method, a mathematical model for the gob voidage and permeability was established by analyzing the overlying strata movement law and the lateral stress variation in the gob. The airflow migration law of haulage roadway 12 201 in Halagou coal mine was studied using Fluent software and an established mathematical model. The main conclusions obtained are as follows: The overburden pressure and lateral stress in the gob gradually increase with the advancement of the working face; along the direction of the retaining roadway, there are two roadway windflows entering the critical zones (the 22‐100 m and 390‐398 m sections). The inflow at these two sections accounted for 59% of the total air inflow, of which the most critical is the 28‐53 m section, which accounts for 43% of the total air inflow in the two severe air leakage sections. The findings of this work provide a theoretical basis for the implementation of antileakage technology in the gob under the roof cutting and pressure releasing mining method and help reduce the risk of spontaneous combustion in the gob.

Shallow-buried high-intensity mining (SHM) activities commonly in China’s western mining area will lead to the decrease of groundwater level and soil water content (SWC), which will aggravate the further deterioration of the local fragile ecological environment. In this study, the applicability and limitations of six typical soil dielectric models were comprehensively evaluated based on ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology and shallow drilling methods. Moreover, experiments were performed to test the variation of SWC in Ningtiaota minefield affected by the SHM. The results show that the fitting effect of the four empirical models and two semi-empirical models on the clay is better than that of the medium sand. Among the six models, the Ledieu model has the best performance for medium sand, and the Topp model for clay. After SHM, the shallow SWC decreases as a whole. The decreasing range is 4.37–15.84%, showing a gradual downward trend compared with the one before mining. The shorter the lagging working face distance, the greater the drop of SWC will be. The longer the lagging working face distance, the smaller the drop of SWC will be showing a gradual and stable trend.

To study the influence of coal mining on the porosity of shallow sandy loam under conditions of shallow seam mining in thick, loose layers in north-west China, a typical surface sandy loam stratum in Shaanxi Province was taken as the study area, and experiments were performed to test the variation of soil porosity at different depths of 0–10 m in strata before, during and after mining therein. The experimental results demonstrate that the overall average porosities in the disc-shaped edge area, the disc-shaped edge area to the disc-shaped basin bottom area and the disc-shaped subsidence centre area of shallow sandy loam in mining increased by (23.51, 18.07 and 22.61%) respectively compared with that before mining. Mining meant that the soil porosity in the period of stable subsidence after mining changed significantly in the disc-shaped edge area and the disc-shaped edge to the disc-shaped basin bottom area. The disc-shaped edge area shows a trend of slowly rising porosity with the increase of depth, and the disc-shaped edge area to the disc-shaped basin bottom area shows a trend of gradually increasing first and then gradually becoming stable. Although the porosity in the central area of disc-shaped subsidence increased before mining, its trend was similar to that before mining. Although the change in soil porosity in the period of post-mining settlement stability is greater than that before mining, it is best fitted by a quintic polynomial. In general, the rate of change of soil porosity in the study area shows similar trends with depth. It showed a U-shaped variation that first decreased, stabilised for a distance and then gradually increased. This study provides theoretical support for surface soil remediation and ecological environment restoration in coal mining areas.

Among the various geological disasters that threaten the safe operation of long‐distance oil and gas pipelines, water‐damage disasters are numerous and widely developed. Especially the pipelines crossing river channels or gullies are vulnerable to scouring hazards from storms and floods. A water‐damage disaster physical model was established to investigate the characteristics of the riverbed scour profile and the pipeline force when the pipeline was buried at different depths under the condition of different particle size riverbed sediment. Results indicated that the equilibrium scour depth changed in a spoon shape with the gradual increase of the embedment ratio in general. The equilibrium scour depth formed by the fine sand riverbed was the largest, about 1.5 times the pipeline diameter. When the pipeline was half exposed, the clay riverbed was more resistant to the scour of the river than the riverbed of fine sand and very fine pebbles with a larger particle size. In the riverbed of three particle sizes, fine sand was more difficult to withstand the scour of the river. The scour profile formed by the sand bed around the pipeline and the force and deformation of the pipeline were related to pipeline location and riverbed sediment type. Results of this study might be useful for the safety warning and protection measures of underwater pipeline crossing.

Accurate prediction of methane resource reserves is a key step in developing and utilizing abandoned mines. However, due to mining activities' interference, the load environment of the remaining coal has changed, which affects the adsorption and migration of methane gas and leads to the wrong evaluation of methane resource reserves. To study the influence of load on the adsorption and migration of methane in abandoned mines, we analyzed the space–time evolution of the load environment of residual coal in abandoned mines. We divided the residual coal into column-type and loose-type. Methane adsorption and migration experiments were carried out by changing the axial load of coal samples on the experimental device. The results show that: (1) the load of the residual coal in the abandoned mine shows a downward trend with the increase in the closing time. In space, the load path of column-type coal increases first and then decreases to a stable value, and the loose-type coal continues to increase to stability. (2) Before the coal is destroyed, with the axial load increasing, the methane adsorption quantity of column-type coal increases from 5.60 to 9.12 ml/g, and the loose-type coal increases from 7.28 to 13.99 ml/g. After the destruction of the coal, the adsorption quantity of the two types of residual coal decreased. (3) The permeability of coal decreases first and then increases with the increase in load. (4) Load should be considered when establishing an accurate methane storage model. The research can provide a theoretical basis and technical support for establishing an accurate methane storage model and efficiently utilizing abandoned mines.