The research on the bursting liability of coal under confining pressure and unloading damage is critical in creating prevention mechanisms for coal mass rock bursts in deep underground mines. Cyclic loading and unloading tests of variable stress with a lower limit were performed under multistage confining pressure and different amplitude unloading to explore their influence on the impact tendency of the coal bodies. Meanwhile, the characteristic parameter analysis of acoustic emissions was used to evaluate the failure. The results revealed that the accumulated number and energy of acoustic emission events gradually decreased with increasing the confining pressure. The coal specimen became denser, and the failure mode gradually transitioned from brittle to ductile. With the increase in unloading amplitude, the cumulative number of acoustic emission events in the coal specimens decreases, the damage degree to the coal body increases, the peak load decreases, and the failure mode transitions from ductile to brittle. The increase in confining pressure results in an increase in the input energy and the elastic strain energy, while the increase in the unloading range of the coal body leads to a decrease in the input energy and elastic strain energy. In addition, after the confining pressures of 3 MPa, 6 MPa, and 9 MPa, the residual elastic energy index of the coal specimens increases by 21.76%, 42.92%, and 71.69%, respectively, compared with the room pressure conditions. The residual elastic energy index decreases by 21.11% and 55.38% for the unloading amplitude of 3 MPa and 6 MPa, respectively, compared with the unloaded coal specimen, indicating that the impact tendency of the coal body is enhanced by the confining pressure conditions.

The essence of coal-rock dynamic disasters is the instantaneous instability that occurs when the coal-rock combination system reaches its strength limit. The differing mechanical properties of coal and rock lead to mismatching deformation within the combination, thereby altering the mechanical characteristics of the coal-rock body under combination structures. Consequently, studying the mismatching horizontal deformation of coal-rock combinations is significant for the prevention and control of coal-rock dynamic disasters. To investigate the mismatching horizontal deformation characteristics of primary coal-rock combinations, this study conducted uniaxial and conventional triaxial loading experiments on primary coal-rock combinations to obtain their strength and horizontal deformation characteristics. Subsequently, numerical simulations were performed to analyze the factors influencing the horizontal deformation of primary coal-rock combinations, ultimately leading to the construction of a horizontal deformation distribution model for primary coal-rock combinations. The research results indicate that due to the influence of the coal-rock interface, the primary coal-rock combinations exhibit continuous and smooth mismatching horizontal deformation under loading conditions, with the magnitude of deformation ordered as coal > interface > rock. The influence of the interface on the horizontal deformation of the coal-rock body does not suddenly vanish; rather, it gradually diminishes with increasing distance from the interface, becoming negligible at approximately 48% of the model’s lateral dimensions. A horizontal deformation mismatch distribution model for primary coal-rock combinations was established based on the Sigmoid function, and the key parameter b in the model was obtained through fitting with numerical simulation results. The reliability of the model was subsequently validated through experimental results. The findings of this study provide a basis for further research on the mechanical properties and deformation characteristics of coal-rock combinations.