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Green and Intelligent Mining of Coal Resources: Theory, Methods and Technologies

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H: Geo-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 August 2023) | Viewed by 7909

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Mining, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Interests: thin coal seam mining; intelligent mining; green mining; mining system engineering; rock stratum control in karst mountainous area
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coal mining is moving in the direction of green and intelligent mining, which is of great importance to improve the coal mining rate, protect the environment and achieve the sustainable development of coal mines.

Coal mining causes strata movement, resulting in surface subsidence and consequent damage to farmland and construction facilities. Coal mining also generates large quantities of gangue which is piled on the ground. This gangue not only occupies good fields, but also causes environmental pollution. With the increase of mining depth, the frequency and intensity of dynamic disasters such as mine pressure appear to increase, endangering the safety of mine production. If the above problems cannot be effectively solved, in the next few decades, with the continuous growth of total energy demand and coal production, the mining area security and ecological environment problems caused by coal resource exploitation will be more serious, and the environment for human survival and social development will be seriously threatened.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to collect original research and review articles on green and intelligent coal mining (but welcomes the submission of other relevant works).

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

  • Influence of mining on strata movement and movement law.
  • The distribution and development law of joint fissures in rock strata after mining.
  • Green mining (filling mining, etc.).
  • Intelligent mining technology.
  • Roadway support technology.

Prof. Dr. Chen Wang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • green mining
  • strata movement
  • roadway support
  • intelligent mining
  • waste filling
  • mine pressure and strata control

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 10099 KiB  
Article
The Instability Characteristics and Displacement Law of Coal Wall Containing Joint Fissures in the Fully Mechanized Working Face with Great Mining Height
by Weibin Guo, Yuhui Li and Gang Wang
Energies 2022, 15(23), 9059; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15239059 - 30 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1101
Abstract
Coal wall rib-spalling is regarded as a key technical problem influencing safe and efficient mining of fully mechanized working face with great mining height (FGH) while the coal wall stability is influenced by the strength of the coal body, of which the internal [...] Read more.
Coal wall rib-spalling is regarded as a key technical problem influencing safe and efficient mining of fully mechanized working face with great mining height (FGH) while the coal wall stability is influenced by the strength of the coal body, of which the internal joint fissures have a crucial impact on the strength of the coal body. This research attempted to explore how the coal wall stability of FGH is influenced by the occurrence of joint fissures. This paper uses physical and numerical simulations to systematically analyze the instability characteristics and displacement law of FGH. Research results show that the form and scope of the instability of coal wall rib-spalling depend on the state of the coal seam joint fissures development area, and the development state of coal seam joint fissures is related to the combination of the coal seam joints; under the condition of hard coal, the coal wall stability is better at the inclination angle of 90°, and less stable at 45° and 135°; under the condition of medium-hard coal and joint surface inclination angle of 45° and 135°, the smaller the spacing of joint surface, the larger the area of the working face rib-spalling, and the less stable the coal wall. Full article
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14 pages, 2867 KiB  
Article
Study on the Bending Effect and Rock Burst Mechanism of Middle Rock Pillars in Extremely Thick Subvertical Coal Seams
by Yuxi Hao, Yangyang Sun, Jiangchun Hu, Manchao He, Jiong Wang and Mingliang Li
Energies 2022, 15(17), 6366; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15176366 - 31 Aug 2022
Viewed by 1097
Abstract
Rock bursts occur in nearly vertical coal seam mines at shallow to moderate burial depths, which endangers safe mining. To study the rock burst mechanisms of nearly vertical and extremely thick coal seams, the characteristics of rock bursts were studied via on-site investigation, [...] Read more.
Rock bursts occur in nearly vertical coal seam mines at shallow to moderate burial depths, which endangers safe mining. To study the rock burst mechanisms of nearly vertical and extremely thick coal seams, the characteristics of rock bursts were studied via on-site investigation, and a field test of in situ stress was carried out. The mechanical behavior of rock pillars in the middle of the B1+2 and B3+6 coal seams was analyzed using theoretical and numerical simulation methods. The results show that the horizontal maximum principal stress orientation and the nearly vertical coal seam strike were both 82°. The bending of the rock pillars occurred due to the horizontal unbalanced force, and a large amount of bending energy was accumulated within 50 m above the mining level. Rock pillars were bent toward the B1+2 mining goaf and exerted a reverse bending and squeezing effect on the B3+6 coal seam below the mining levels. In addition to the inclination and compression of the B3+6 coal seam roof, stress concentration zones formed in the B3+6 coal seam, where a large amount of elastic energy had accumulated in the coal-rock mass. Consequently, both the rock pillars and the B3+6 coal body at the mining level are in an unstable state undue to mining disturbance. Rock burst energy theory and numerical calculation results showed that in the stress concentration zones of the B3+6 coal seam, the energy density of the coal mass reached or exceeded its critical value before rock burst occurred, and rock bursts were prone to occur under mining disturbances. The in situ microseismic results showed that high-energy microseismic events were mainly concentrated in middle rock pillars around the mining levels and the coal mass in high-stress concentration zones. Full article
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16 pages, 5179 KiB  
Article
Study on Fractal Characteristics of Evolution of Mining-Induced Fissures in Karst Landform
by Rentao Gou, Chengyu Jiang, Yong Liu, Chen Wang and Yuanlin Li
Energies 2022, 15(15), 5372; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15155372 - 25 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1311
Abstract
The karst landscape is widespread in the southern region of China. As a result of underground mining activities, the original stress equilibrium is disrupted, causing the redistribution of stress in the overlying rock layer, inducing the longitudinal fracture of mining to expand and [...] Read more.
The karst landscape is widespread in the southern region of China. As a result of underground mining activities, the original stress equilibrium is disrupted, causing the redistribution of stress in the overlying rock layer, inducing the longitudinal fracture of mining to expand and penetrate upwards, resulting in the rupture and destabilization of the karst cave roof, thus triggering a series of engineering problems such as karst cave collapse, landslide, the discontinuous deformation of the ground surface, and soil erosion. In order to study the evolutionary characteristics of buried rock fissures in shallow coal seam mining under the karst landform, taking the shallow coal seam with the typical karst cave development landform in Guizhou as the engineering background, based on the similarity simulation experiment and fractal theory, the evolution law of buried rock fissures and network fractal characteristics under the disturbance of the karst landform mining are analyzed. The research shows that the mining-induced fracture reaches the maximum development height of 61 m on the left side of the cave, and the two sides of the cave produce uncoordinated deformation. The separation fracture below the cave is relatively developed, and the overall distribution pattern of the cave rock fracture network presents a “ladder” shape. The correlation coefficient of the fractal dimension of the rock fractures under different advancing distances is more than 0.90, and the rock fracture network under the karst landform has high self-similarity. The variation of fractal dimension with the advancing degree of the working face can be divided into four stages. The first and second stages show an exponential growth trend, and the third and fourth stages show linear changes with slopes of 0.0007 and 0.0014, respectively. The fluctuation of the fractal dimension is small. The periodic weighting of the upper roof in the cave-affected zone is frequent, the fragmentation of the fractured rock mass becomes larger, and the fractures of the upper rock mass are relatively developed. The research results can provide a reference for the study on the evolution law of mining-induced rock fissures under similar karst landforms. Full article
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21 pages, 8621 KiB  
Article
Research on Directional Controllability of Cracking in Hydraulic Fracturing of Hard Overburden Based on Local Stress Field Intervention
by Dingchao Chen, Xiangyu Wang, Feiteng Zhang, Menglong Li, Xiangqian Zhao, Guanjun Li, Yang Yu, Guanghui Wang, Jiaxin Zhao and Xiangdong Wang
Energies 2022, 15(12), 4252; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15124252 - 9 Jun 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1284
Abstract
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
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18 pages, 5336 KiB  
Article
Study on the Combined Mining Scheme for Coal Resources under High-Voltage Pylons and the Reinforcement for Pylons
by Hongyang Liu, Mingrui Du, Boyang Zhang, Zhibin Lin, Chengwei Liu and Feng Wang
Energies 2022, 15(11), 3978; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15113978 - 27 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1696
Abstract
The increasing use of high-voltage transmission wires requires more and more high-voltage pylons, and sometimes, constructing pylons in mining areas is very urgent. To ensure the safe operation of pylons, coal pillars with large side lengths are usually used to provide sufficient support; [...] Read more.
The increasing use of high-voltage transmission wires requires more and more high-voltage pylons, and sometimes, constructing pylons in mining areas is very urgent. To ensure the safe operation of pylons, coal pillars with large side lengths are usually used to provide sufficient support; however, this results in a huge waste of coal. Eight high-voltage pylons are arranged on the ground surface corresponding to the location of working face 1110 of Sima Coal Mine in Shanxi Province, China, which cannot be mined by traditional methods. Taking this as the engineering background, the failure mode of high-voltage pylon is first analyzed. Using FLAC3D numerical simulations, the influence of five different mining plans on ground surface deformation in working face 1110 is evaluated, and the vertical settlement and horizontal deformation in different areas of the ground surface, as well as the variation law of horizontal strain and slope are analyzed. According to the numerical simulation results, the range of thickness-limiting mining or backfill mining in working face 1110 is shown in scheme 3, and the key regions in the mining process are determined. Secondly, the strengthening scheme of high-voltage pylons is designed, that is, the four foundations of high-voltage pylons are connected as a whole with steel supports and steel connectors so as to improve the structural strength of the high-voltage pylon. Finally, the position change in the foundation of high-voltage pylons was monitored for 22 consecutive months. The results show that the maximum settlement of the high-voltage tower foundation is 3.1 m, which is consistent with the actual mining thickness; The high-voltage pylon was stably moved, and the change in transmission line tension and total length was usually less than 1.0%. The combined mining scheme and foundation strengthening scheme can ensure the safe operation of high-voltage pylons and provide a new method for the stability control of ground buildings in coal mining subsidence area. Full article
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