Deep mining stress increase and thick hard rock layer endowment drive rock body fissure expansion, leading to sudden fracture of the roof plate accidents. The roof slab of 11,129 working face in Zhangji Mine is a 16 m thick sandstone composite roof slab, whose compressive strength reaches 89.8 MPa. The hardness of the roof slab is high, its bearing capacity is high, and it is difficult to collapse. The hardness of the roof plate is high, its bearing capacity is high, and it is difficult to fall. If the roof plate does not fall in time, it will lead to the energy accumulation of itself, and the sudden fracture and fall will make the working face and the two roadways show the drastic mine pressure, which will lead to the risk of the coal wall appearing the slice of gangs, the roof falling and the pressure frame. Therefore, for the 11,129 working face thick hard sandstone roof plate direct cover and mining technology conditions. It is very necessary and imperative to research the artificial roof release technology of deep hole pre-cracking blasting to improve the adventitious fall of the thick hard roof plate, reduce the overhanging roof area of the mining hollow area, and reduce the incoming pressure strength of the roof plate. This paper adopts the research method combining theory, physical experiment, numerical simulation and field test, focusing on research and analysis of the deflection change of the roof plate after pre-cracking and blasting, the relationship between the roof plate and the role of the bracket, and the effect of artificial blasting to release the roof. The results show that the theoretical part deduces and analyzes the relationship equation of the influence of the rotating and sinking of the roof plate on the pressure of the support, and combined with the law of the roof plate-support action can be divided into three stages: (1) Initial stage of mining, (2) Rotating and sinking stage, and (3) Breakdown and fragmentation stage. The deep stress increase and the rock layer's own characteristics (hardness and thickness) are the main controlling factors to determine the bearing capacity of the stent. As the depth of coal mining increases, the pressure at the minimum roof control distance of the stent gradually increases from 11.5 to 34.6 MPa. The increase of rock hardness relatively reduces the force acting on the stent, and the stent bearing capacity decreases by 75% when the hardness increases from 8 to 32 GPa. The 11,129 engineering geological parameters are brought into the calculation to obtain the pressure in the stent control distance of 13.5–20.5 MPa. The simulation part analyzes the stress relief degree of the roof plate before and after the roof blasting, and the peak stress in front of the coal wall is reduced from 46.7 to 30.9 MPa, which is an obvious effect of pressure relief, and the simulation results are analyzed in comparison with the theoretical results to validate the reliability of the simulation results. Further, the physical similarity experiments were conducted to analyze the deformation behavior of mining instability and crack evolution characteristics of the overburden rock of the quarry after cutting the roof, and the peak stress of the coal wall was in the range of 22.7–27.8 MPa after the blasting decompression, which was mutually verified with the theoretical analysis and the simulation results to ensure the reliability of the calculation results. Combined with the geological conditions of the mine area, the "fan-shaped" blasting hole arrangement is proposed to carry out segmental blasting, and the specific parameters of different locations of the holes are given. The effect of pre-cracking blasting was examined, and it was found that the rock mass at the hole opening had a high degree of fragmentation, and the ring and strike cracks appeared alternately in the middle and lower part of the drilling holes, and the polygonal energy slit played a very effective role, and achieved the purpose of artificially releasing the roof. At the same time, it is improved the load-bearing environment of the mining support, which further improves the safety and efficiency production of the coal mine.

The problem of strong ground pressure caused by thick and hard roofs in coal mine stopes has become more prominent. Blasting roof cutting and pressure relief are effective technical ways to solve this engineering problem. The key to achieving roof cutting and pressure relief is the evolution and penetration of cracks between blasting roof cutting holes in a mining stress environment. To solve this problem, research on the evolution of cracks between blasting roof cutting holes in a mining stress environment is being conducted. Along with specific engineering examples, the mechanical effect of blasting dynamic load in the surrounding rock medium between holes in a mining stress environment is analyzed using the research methods of field investigation, blasting simulation, and mechanical analysis. The fracture evolution law between blasting roof cutting holes under the conditions of different hole diameters and spacings, confining pressure environments, and rock mass strengths is analyzed using the univariate comparative analysis method. The research shows that the superposition effect of blasting dynamic load between adjacent blastholes in the transmission process leads to the “X” type penetration evolution of surrounding rock fracture area and fracture area between blastholes. Among them, the blasting effect of a hole diameter of 70 mm and a hole spacing of 0.8 m is best. When designing the blasting roof cutting scheme, we should pay attention to the key factors such as hole diameter and hole spacing. The hole spacing is particularly critical to the effect of roof cutting and crack formation, whereas the confining pressure and rock mass strength have little impact on the expansion and development of blasting cracks, which can be listed as secondary factors for comprehensive analysis in design. According to the transmission law of blasting dynamic load between holes, the critical criterion of blasting top clearance penetration under mining stress environment is deduced. Four important factors affecting blasting top cutting effect are simulated and studied for optimizing the design of roof cutting scheme. Practical engineering application results show that the blasting roof cutting scheme achieves a good seam- forming effect and creates good initial conditions for thick and hard roof cutting. It can serve as a reference for the decision making of blasting top caving technology under similar engineering conditions.

Protective seam mining is an effective gas pressure relief method in deep mining. Effective theoretical calculation methods in the current studies on the prediction of pressure relief protection effect of interbed coal and rock masses and their distribution laws are lacking. Thus, the evaluation and research with respect to pressure relief effect in protective seam mining relatively lag behind. This situation restricts the engineering feasibility evaluation and decision making in the protective seam mining. Therefore, the influence of upper protective seam mining on the pressure relief protection effect of coal and rock mass between underlying beds was investigated in this study. On the basis of an analysis of concrete engineering projects, a mechanical model was constructed for the pressure relief protection effect of upper protective seam mining on the coal and rock mass between underlying beds. The distribution equation of pressure relief expansion ratio in the underlying protected seam was also derived. The influence laws of main influencing factors on the pressure relief protection effect of the protected seam were revealed as well. In the end, the pressure relief effect was analyzed and verified for the protected seam before and after mining through numerical simulation and similarity simulation test. The pressure relief effect of upper protective seam mining on the coal and rock mass between underlying beds and the distribution characteristics were deeply explored in this study, which could provide a theoretical reference for the decision making in the gas extraction engineering design and pre‐evaluation of extraction effect. Results show that the effective pressure relief zone (expansion rate>0.3%) of the protected seam beneath the goaf is located within the range of approximately 40 m from the coal wall to the rear part. It also presents an approximate “Λ‐shaped distribution characteristic,” that is, it experiences migration and evolution with the advancement in the working face. Moreover, the peak pressure relief lags behind the coal wall on the working face by nearly 10–20 m. In the numerical simulation, the expansion ratio in the goaf also presents an approximate “Λ‐shaped distribution.” Its effective pressure relief zone is the 50 m range from the coal wall to the rear part of the goaf, and the peak value lags behind the coal wall by around 15 m. The theoretical results and numerical simulation results are basically consistent with the physical experiment results. The expansion rates are 1.25%, 1.268%, and 1.32%, respectively. The elastic modulus E of coal seam and interbed spacing H are the main influencing factors of the swelling deformation and are negatively correlated with the expansion ratio. In the actual mining process, E and H of the protected layer can be measured to infer the expansion deformation of the protected layer.

The conditions of the hard roof in my country vary greatly, ranging from a few meters to tens of meters or even hundreds of meters in thickness. The coal reserves under the hard roof account for about one‐third of the total reserves. At present, nearly 40% of fully mechanized mining faces that belong to the hard roof working face has the problem of mining in the hard roof working face. This has a serious impact on the load‐bearing stability of the fully mechanized support, and it is urgent to solve the problem of strong underground pressure dynamic disaster under the condition of the hard roof. Based on the research background of 11129 working face in Zhangji Coal Mine in Huainan, this paper constructs a mechanical model of the interaction between the cantilever beam of the hard roof of the stope and the support and then the force distribution equation of the bearing capacity of the supports at different positions of the roof during the periodical rotation of the working face is obtained, which is combined with numerical simulation and engineering site to verify. The research results show that the bearing stability of the support is significantly affected by factors such as the buried depth H, the roof elastic modulus E, the roof thickness h, and the roof cantilever length l₀, but most of the influencing factors belong to the geological occurrence conditions of the coal seam itself. Presplit blasting of the roof in advance can effectively destroy the integrity of the roof itself and reduce the periodic breaking distance, thereby improving the apparent environment of roof rock pressure and reducing the force on the working face support. According to the specific geological environment of the 11129 working face, the cutting plan of the cut hole is given out, along the groove 0∼200 and 200∼700 m of the concrete presplitting blasting. The stent force of the top‐cutting section fluctuates in the range of 3360.8–4347.9 kN in the range of control top distance (5275∼6175 mm). The load‐bearing pressure of the stent before top‐cutting is about 1.8 times of that after top‐cutting. The pressure distribution of the hydraulic support in the numerical simulation stope is approximately “Λ” in the middle and the low on the two sides. The simulated value is slightly smaller than the theoretical calculation value. The reason is that the goaf is backfilled during the simulation process, and the roof has a certain ability to bear the load. Real‐time understanding of the “roof‐support” mechanical relationship can effectively ensure the safe and efficient mining of the 11129 working face and also provide experience for the subsequent mining of group B coal in the later period.

In regions with high-stress roadway stress, anchor cables frequently experience damage, leading to risky pull-outs and ejections. This study aimed to determine the dynamics of such incidents, refine protective devices, and validate their efficacy in enhancing safety. Drawing from an ejection accident in the 1632 (3) roadway of Pan San Mine, a combination of laboratory experiments, theoretical analysis, simulations, and field applications was utilized. The kinetic energy and speed of cable ejections were determined from single-axis tension test data. Based on these insights, a spring-based protection device was conceptualized. Subsequent experiments and simulations evaluated the energy absorption and deformation characteristics of these devices with different diameters. The results included the following: A cable, during ejection, moved at 48 m/s. Spring protective devices of 4 mm can absorb more energy than the 5 mm, but the anti-ejection effect is poor respectively. Increasing the device diameter improved its performance, especially in controlling spring deformation rate and preventing cable lock-ups. This devised protection mechanism showed promising results when implemented in the 1511 (1) roadway of Zhangji Mine.

Hard roof strata in deep coal mines commonly cause rib failure and roof collapse, restricting extraction efficiency. This study employs theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and field experiments to investigate the fractal evolution of damage in coal–rock mass under loading and blasting disturbances, with the aim of quantifying progressive failure and optimizing roof control. Key findings include: (1) The fractal dimension D of fragment size distribution increases monotonically with loading rate, with fine-particle proportion rising from 48.5% to 52.3%, indicating more thorough fragmentation at higher rates. (2) Load intensity, elastic modulus, and seam thickness govern coal bearing capacity and energy accumulation, with D serving as a quantitative damage indicator. (3) Pre-splitting blasting shifts the stress peak away from the working face, with shear fractures dominating the fracture network and tensile fractures playing a secondary role. (4) Field application at Zhangji Coal Mine (9 coal seam, 7–23.5 m sandstone roof) confirms the effectiveness of segmented fan-shaped borehole pre-splitting blasting in controlling roof behavior; fractal dimension derived from borehole images quantifies fracture propagation. Dynamic adjustment of blasting parameters based on geological core samples is recommended to enhance fracture network complexity and improve roof control efficiency under varying hard rock conditions.