Research on the Law of Top Coal Movement and Influence Factors of Coal Caving Ratio for Fully Mechanized Top Coal Caving Working Face

Jinhu Zhang, Zhiheng Cheng (), Sheng Lei, Kai Guo, Liang Chen, Zherui Zhang and Jiahui Chen
Additional contact information
Jinhu Zhang: CCTEG Coal Mining Research Institute, Beijing 100013, China
Zhiheng Cheng: School of Mining Safety, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Beijing 101601, China
Sheng Lei: CCTEG Coal Mining Research Institute, Beijing 100013, China
Kai Guo: School of Mining Safety, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Beijing 101601, China
Liang Chen: School of Mining Safety, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Beijing 101601, China
Zherui Zhang: School of Mining Safety, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Beijing 101601, China
Jiahui Chen: School of Mining Safety, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Beijing 101601, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-14

Abstract: To investigate the movement law of top coal and the influencing factors of coal caving ratio in fully mechanized top coal caving faces, this study adopts the theory of dispersoid mechanics. First, a top coal flow model was established without considering the influence of the support. Then, the effect of the support was analyzed, and it was found that the sliding resistance of the top coal body increases with the square of both the support width and the top coal thickness. Furthermore, the positive stress on the coal particles was derived through a microelement force analysis, and a theoretical formula for arching probability was proposed. The mobility of top coal was evaluated using a flow factor, and the influence of lump size on arching tendency was quantitatively analyzed. Based on these insights, several measures to improve top coal flowability and recovery rate were proposed, including increasing mining height, enlarging the coal caving opening, enhancing the initial support force, extending the caving step, and applying multiple alternating loads to pre-break top coal. These strategies provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for enhancing top coal caving efficiency.

Keywords: movement rules of top coal; coal caving ratio; particle size of dispersoid; coal arch of top coal caving (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/16/4312/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/16/4312/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:16:p:4312-:d:1723884

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().