A reasonable width of the coal pillar is very important to the surrounding rock control of the gob‐side roadway. An unreasonable width of the coal pillar will make the roadway to be located within the range of strong mining influence, leading to severe deformation of the roadway. Severe subsidence at the coal pillar side of the roof and serious coal pillar deformation are problems caused by strong dynamic pressure due to mining in the gob‐side coal roadway. This paper studies the surrounding rock instability mechanism and rational coal pillar width of the gob‐side coal roadway under the influence of intense dynamic pressure. The results show that: (1) Under the condition of large mining height, the roadway overburden is a hinged structure, and an unreasonable coal pillar width makes the gob‐side coal roadway to be located below the main roof fracture line. The rotary movement of the key block of the main roof is the main reason for the roadway deformation. (2) According to the evolution law of stress field, displacement field and plastic zone of surrounding rock of roadway under different coal pillar widths during roadway driving and mining were studied, and it is concluded that a 6‐m‐width coal pillar is the most reasonable. (3) Based on the stress distribution and plasticizing range of surrounding rock in a narrow pillar roadway, the combined support scheme of “anchor cable + grouting + single prop” is proposed and applied to engineering practice. The practice results show that the roadway deformation is well controlled, and the safe mining of the working face is realized.

During gob-side entry driving under complex conditions in inclined short-distance coal seams, the roadway loses stability and deforms seriously, which affects the safety and efficiency of mine production. In this study, a reasonable coal pillar width was explored by means of on-site investigation, theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and engineering tests. The following research results were obtained: (1) In selecting a reasonable coal pillar width, the influences of the position of residual coal pillars, stratum spacing, main roof breakage, roadway section in the upper coal seam should be considered. From established mechanical models of inclined gob-side roadways, the maximum floor failure depth is 27 m and the concentrated influence range of the #1 coal pillars is 11 m. (2) The stress states of coal pillars with different widths were analyzed by numerical simulation. As the coal pillar width increases, the peak value of the stress increases first and then decreases. Based on the site geological conditions, the optimum coal pillar width was determined to be 8 m, which is consistent with the theoretical calculation results. (3) A new pressure-yield support technology was proposed, and its on-site application confirmed its notable roadway control effect. Our research can provide theoretical support for the control of roadways surrounding rock under similar engineering background conditions.

Due to their tense mining succession relationship, gob-side roadways may undergo significant deformation under multi-mining pressure. In this article, many methods, such as on-site research, a theoretical analysis, a numerical simulation and an industrial experiment, are used to research the mechanism of asymmetric floor heave in a gob-side coal roadway affected by mining pressure during the mining of extra-thick coal seams. Our main research is as follows: (1) By monitoring the floor deformation in the roadway on site, it is concluded that the roadway floor shows asymmetry, indicating that the floor displacement near the coal pillar side is relatively large. (2) Based on a lateral overburden structure model of the roadway, the calculation formulas of the horizontal vertical stress caused by the roadway excavation and the excavation of the upper working face are derived separately, and the vertical stress coupling curves on both sides of the roadway during the mining of the upper working face are obtained through a numerical simulation. It is concluded that the cause of the asymmetric floor heave in the roadway is an uneven distribution of vertical stress. (3) The numerical simulation shows a symmetrical distribution of the floor displacement curve during the roadway excavation with a max. displacement of 49.5 mm. The floor displacement curve during the mining of the upper working face is asymmetric with a max. displacement of 873 mm at a distance of 1 m from the central axis near the coal pillar side. The range of the plastic zone in the roadway gradually expands with the mining of the upper working face, and the maximum depth of floor failure is 5.5 m. (4) According to the cooperative control principle of “roof + two sides + floor”, an asymmetric floor heave joint control scheme of “floor leveling + anchor cable support + concrete hardening” is proposed. The floor deformation monitoring results indicate that the max. floor heave at the measurement point near the coal pillar in the roadway is 167 mm, and the floor heave is effectively controlled.

Under the condition of fully mechanized top coal caving in close-distance coal seams, the surrounding rock of the stopping space easily loses stability during the withdrawal of mining equipment in the working face because the lower coal seam working face is located under the goaf and the overburden rock has a large range of complex interaction. Field investigation, theoretical analysis, laboratory experiment, similar simulation experiment, numerical simulation, and field industrial tests are used to carry out the research on the stability and control of the surrounding rock in the large section stopping space under the goaf in this paper. The research conclusions are as follows. (1) It is determined that the lower coal seam working face can only stop mining under the goaf, and the reasonable stopping position under the goaf should ensure that the key block fracture line of the main roof is behind the support. (2) The interaction law between the main roof’s key blocks of the upper and lower coal seams is analyzed, and the catastrophic conditions for sliding instability and rotary instability of the main roof’s key blocks of the upper and lower coal seams are obtained. (3) “Anchorage with push and pull equipment-Embedded anchorages and trays” integral anchoring technology is developed. The dimensions of the push and pull equipment are determined. (4) Through numerical simulation of the distribution characteristics of the anchor cable pre-stress field, the asymmetric control scheme of “Partition long and short anchor cables + Integral polyurethane mesh + Embedded anchorages and trays for roof protection” is determined. The rock pressure observation shows that the withdrawal of the working face equipment is implemented safely.