Roadways driven along the floor of thick coal seams, while retaining the top coal, form “thick coal seam floor roadways.” These large-section roadways feature a composite coal-rock roof and weak coal ribs, leading to low overall strength and poor stability of the surrounding rock. Significant deformation and “necking” often occur, accompanied by roof falls and rib spalling, which are exacerbated under high stress or adverse geology, threatening mine safety and production. In this study, the 2201 haulage gateway in Yingpanhao Coal Mine is investigated to address surrounding rock control in such deep roadways. Using field investigation, theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and similar simulation tests, the failure mechanisms of ribs and roofs are analyzed. Rib failure is characterized by tensile fracture in the shallow zone, splitting failure in the medium-depth zone, and incomplete conjugate shear in the deep zone. Corresponding mechanical models are established, and a method for calculating total rib failure depth—combining tensile/splitting and shear failure depths—is proposed, along with a bolt length design formula. Based on this, a synergistic roof-and-rib support technology is developed. The failure mechanism and optimal support scheme are validated through simulation tests and successfully applied in the field, demonstrating satisfactory performance. The findings provide a valuable reference for support design in similar mining roadways.

To overcome the deformation and failure of surrounding rock in bottom-driven roadways within thick coal seams, this paper proposes a cooperative support theory for the sides and roof of such roadways in deep thick coal seams, based on existing support theories and technologies. The haulage roadway of the 2201 working face in the Yingpanhao Coal Mine is taken as the engineering prototype. Using the proposed theory, three optimized support schemes are developed. Numerical simulations are conducted to compare the deformation and failure behavior of roadway surrounding rock under the original support scheme and the three optimized schemes. The optimal scheme identified by simulation is then implemented in field engineering. The results show that, relative to the original scheme, roof subsidence is reduced by 51.99 mm, 43.83 mm, and 21.41 mm for Optimized Schemes 1, 2, and 3, respectively, corresponding to reductions of approximately 39.71%, 33.48%, and 16.35%. Under the three optimized schemes, the convergence of the two sidewalls decreases from 480.21 mm to 157.73 mm, 250.84 mm, and 424.24 mm, i.e., reductions of about 67.15%, 47.76%, and 11.66%, respectively. Under the original support scheme, the vertical stress concentration zone is located approximately 5.4 m from the roadway side. Under the three optimized schemes, this distance is reduced to 3.6 m, 3.8 m, and 4.8 m, respectively. The extent of the plastic zone is also smaller under the optimized schemes than under the original scheme, with Scheme 1 exhibiting the greatest reduction. Based on a comprehensive comparison, Optimized Scheme 1 is selected as the optimal support scheme. In addition, Scheme 1 improves deformation asymmetry, with the left–right sidewall asymmetry index decreasing from 3.34% to 0.06% and the sidewall–roof imbalance index decreasing from 3.67 to 2.00. Field application further confirms that this scheme substantially reduces roof–floor convergence and sidewall convergence, verifying the feasibility of the proposed cooperative support theory and technology for the sides and roof in deep bottom-driven roadways of thick coal seams.