As underground engineering construction expands globally, numerous tunnels and roadways are excavated annually. However, the complex and unpredictable underground geological conditions pose risks of accidents and casualties if not promptly and accurately identified. Therefore, precise identification and early prediction of adverse geological conditions are crucial. This paper reviews the development process of advanced detection technology for tunnels and roadways, categorizing it into four stages: manual stage, automatic stage, detection while excavation stage, and intelligent stage, China is currently transitioning from the second to the third stage. Additionally, this paper emphasizes the principles, characteristics, and applications of conventional advanced detection methods, including seismic methods, electrical methods, electromagnetic methods, etc. Addressing the limitations of conventional methods, including short detection distance, low efficiency, and high cost, this paper introduces integrated designs for detection instruments and tunneling machines, specifically tunnel seismic while drilling (TSWD) and tunnel electrical while drilling. These methods enable simultaneous excavation and detection, enhancing work efficiency by over 50%, with TSWD achieving a maximum detection distance of 200 m. In addition, this paper provides a unified summary of the advantages, disadvantages, and applicable conditions of both conventional and detection while excavation methods. Finally, this paper discusses two important future directions for tunnel and roadway advanced detection: multi-source signal cooperative detection and application of intelligent technology.

With the increase of mining intensity of coal resources, some coal mines in China have gradually entered the deep mining stage. The complexity of the stress environment of the deep rock stratum leads to the difficulty of coal mining. Among them, the control of the deep roadway is one of the bottlenecks restricting the safety mining of the deep coal resources in China. By means of statistical analysis, the factors affecting the stability of the deep roadway were summed up: roadway occurrence environment, driving disturbance, and support means. The mechanical model of the deep roadway was established with the theory of elastic‐plastic mechanics, the distribution characteristics of the plastic zone of the roadway were revealed, and the influence laws of lateral pressure coefficient, vertical stress, and support strength on the stability of the roadway were analyzed. Through numerical simulation, the law of stress, displacement and the plastic zone distribution evolution of the deep roadway, the mechanism of horizontal stress, and the mechanism of bolt support on the roadway were studied. On this basis, the safety control strategies to ensure the stability of the deep roadway were put forward: improving the strength of the roof and floor, especially the bearing part of the top angle and the side angle, enhancing the stability of the two sides of the roadway and controlling the floor heave, and making the surrounding rock of the deep roadway release pressure moderately, so as to make the roadway easy to be maintained under the low stress environment. These meaningful references were provided for the exploitation of deep coal resources in China.

On the working face below shallow and close coal seams, there are residual pillars. The mine’s ability to operate safely is constrained by the coal pillars’ vulnerability to sudden instability and powerful ground pressure disasters during withdrawal. This paper uses the 31,106 working face of the Huoluowan coal mine as its research backdrop and employs field observation, theoretical analysis, and numerical simulation to examine the strong dynamic load mechanism of the overlying coal pillars. According to the analysis, the residual pillar’s stress diffusion angle is 29 degrees after mining the working face above it, which has an impact on the main roof’s stability above the working face’s retracement roadway. The main roof is impacted by the excavation disturbance and the remaining pillars during the working face’s final mining phase, displaying a complex stress superposition state. The retracement roadway is significantly deformed as a result of the plastic zone of the surrounding rock changing from small-scale damage to extensive damage. The proposed “hydraulic roof cutting + reinforcement support” prevention technology is based on the prevention idea of weakening important rock strata, changing the stress transmission path, and strengthening adjacent rock. Field testing shows how hydraulic fracturing reinforces the roof structure, lessens the heavy dynamic load on the supporting pillars of overlying residual coal, reduces rock deformation in the retracement roadway, and ensures the stability of the working face during withdrawal. The study’s findings are significant for the secure removal of a working face under similar circumstances.

As a widely-used method of digging roadways in China, gob-side entry driving features specific advantages, such as a high recovery rate and good isolation effects. However, under the condition of hard overburden, the excessive bearing pressure of small coal pillars will easily cause serious internal damage in the coal and the run-through of the plastic zone, leading to harmful gas leakage in the goaf. Therefore, based on the engineering background of small coal pillars in the 18506 working face of Xiqu Coal Mine, this paper comprehensively adopts theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, industrial tests, and other methods, analyzes the evolution mechanism of isolated bearing and plastic fracture areas of small coal pillar under hard overburden, studies the influence law of hard overburden cutting parameters on the isolation and stability of small coal pillars, and puts forward the technology of actively cutting the top to weaken the stress concentration of coal pillars under hard overburden. With the reasonable cutting parameters determined, the controllable mechanism of hydraulic fracturing cutting under hard overburden further revealed, and the hydraulic fracturing cutting technology with “controllable cutting orientation of hydraulic fracturing with local stress field intervention” formed as the basic core, the stress situation on the roof is improved, realizing the stability control of the coal pillars for the roadway protection, and avoiding gas leakage and other disasters caused by small coal pillar destruction.

It is very extraordinary for the success of coal mine roadway grouting with the following factors of high early strength, good fluidity, and convenient pumping, but the existing grouting materials make it difficult to achieve the above characteristics at the same time. Therefore, a modified grouting material is developed, which is composed of two kinds of dry materials A and B, which are mixed with water and in equal amounts. The physical and mechanical properties of modified grouting materials under different ratios were tested by laboratory orthogonal test, and the optimal ratio of grouting materials and additives was obtained: (1) the water-cement ratio is 0.8 : 1; (2) base material: the mass ratio of cement, fly ash, bentonite, and water is 1 : 0.3 : 0.1 : 1.44; (3) admixture: the mass ratio of water reducer C, accelerator D, and retarder E is 1.5% : 0.05% : 0.3%. The basic properties of the modified grouting materials were studied from the aspects of slurry flow state, diffusion range, and grouting parameters by using the numerical simulation method, and the reinforcement mechanism of slurry to the broken surrounding rock properties of the roadway was revealed: (1) the grouting pressure is the main factor affecting the slurry diffusion radius; (2) the mechanical properties of the roadway surrounding rock are improved, the plastic zone and deformation of surrounding rock are reduced, and the active support function of the anchor and cable is enhanced through grouting reinforcement; (3) the control effect of the roadway is improved, and the balanced bearing with anchorage structure of the roadway surrounding rock is realized through grouting reinforcement. On this basis, the modified grouting material is applied to roadway repair and reinforcement engineering practice. The field monitoring data show that the production practices were guided by roadway repair and reinforcement technology with the modified grouting material, as the core of the roadway surrounding rock control effect is good, and the modified grouting material has a wide range of application prospects.

Gob-side entry retaining (GER) play a crucial role in enhancing coal recovery, improving roadway stress conditions, and ensuring safe and efficient mining operations. This study focuses on investigating the stability characteristics of surrounding rock using flexible formwork concrete (FFC) along the headgate of 3405 panel. According to the fracture pattern of roof, a mechanical model of GER was developed. This study derived expressions for the support resistance of the filling body and determined its optimal bearing capacity. A FLAC^3D numerical model was employed to simulate the GER process, segmented into early, middle, and late stages. Simulation results demonstrate a progression in peak deviatoric stress and extent of plastic zones in the surrounding rock. This evolution includes an initial minor increase (early stage), followed by rapid escalation (middle stage), and eventual stabilization (late stage). The middle stage emerges as critical, characterized by pronounced mining-induced stress effects on the roof. During this phase, significant changes are observed in deviatoric stress curves, with plastic zones rapidly migrating deeper into the rock mass. Practical implementation of the findings revealed a maximum deformation of the filling body of only 198 mm, affirming the feasibility of employing FFC in GER. This research provides valuable insights into managing stability concerns in GER thereby enhancing safety and operational efficiency in coal mining under similar conditions.