1.

STRATA MECHANIC
When a longwall panel of sufficient width and length is excavated, the overburden roof strata are disturbed in
order of severity from the immediate roof toward the surface. Figure 1 shows the three zones of disturbances in
the overburden strata in response to the longwall mining (Peng and Chiang, 1984). The caved zone which is the
immediate roof before it caves, ranges in thickness from two to eight times the height of extraction (or mining
height). In this zone the strata fall on the mine floor and in the process are broken into irregular but platy shapes
of various sizes. The broken rock fragments are crowded in a random manner. Thus the rock volume in its
broken state is considerably larger than that of the original intact strata. The volume ratio of broken rock to its
original intact strata is called the expansion ratio for variuos rock types. The expanxion ratio is a very important
factor because is determines the height of the caved zone.
Above the caved zone is the fractured zone. In this zone the strata arc broken into blocks by vertical and/or
subvertical fractured and horizontal cracks due to bed separation. The adjacent blocks in each broken stratum
are contacted either fully or partially across the vertical or subvertical fractures. Thus there is a horizontal force
that is transmitted through and remains is these strata. With this horizontal force the individual blocks in these
broken strata cannot move freely without affecting the movements of the adjacent blocks. There broken strata
are called the force transmitting beams. The thickness of the fractured zone ranges from 28 to 42 times the
mining height. Thus the combined thicknesses of thr caved abd fractured zone ranges from 30 to 50 times the
mining height (Dahl and Von Schonfeldt, 1976).
Between the fractured zone and the surface is the continuous deformation zone. In this zone the strata deform
without causing any major cracks cutting through the thickness of the strata as in the fractured zone. Therefore
the strata behave essentially like a continuous medium.

1. Immediate Roof
Movements of the three zones just discussed have diffrent effect on roof control at the longwall face. The effect
decreases as the strata are located farther upward from the roofline. The immediate roof is that portion of the
overburden strata lying immediately above the roofline that will cave in the gob area immediately following the
advance of the powered support (fig.2). because itis broken and caved in the gob area, it cannot transmit
horizontal force along the direction of mining. Therefore its weight must be completely supported by the
powered support. Above the immediate roof the strata in the lower portion of the fractured zone are called the
main roof. Strata above the main roof will not affect the roof stability ath the face area. The strata in the main
roof are broken but do not lose contacts. Therefore they can still transmit horizontal forces, although the rear
end of the strata, which is in the gob area, is generally lower than the front end, which is located above the
powered support and the immediate roof. The strata in the main roof break periodically. The key to control of
the main roof is to limit the effect of impact as they break and fall.
The immediate roof id the key to roof control. The rock type and thickness of the immediate roof are the major
factors governing the selection of various roof control techniques.
The caving height or the thickness of the immediate roof required to fill up the gob can be determined by (fig. 2)

2. Main roof
The main roof generally refers to generally refers to the slightly broken but uncaved strata in the lower portion
og the fractured zone. Its movements will affect the stability of the immediate roof and thus the supports in the
face area. Above the main roof the strata movements are too far away to have a significant impact on the face
area. The main roof generally breaks periodically alongthe direction of face advance and impose periodic roof
weightings to the face area.
The thickness of the main roof can be determined by examining the stratigraphic column above the coal seam. It
involves the determinationof number, location, and thickness of the force-transmitting strata beams in the
fractured zone. The guidelines are:
a. Strata separation will occur along the bedding planes because it is the next weakest zone to actual
fractures.
b. Strata separation and downward sagging occur first at the lowest stratum in the fractured zone and
propagate upward.
c. The delay time for separation and downward sagging between adjacent strata depens primarily on the
thickness and strength of the strata. If the upper strata are strong and thick, their movement is delayed
far behind of the lower strata. Conversely, if the upper strata are weak and thin, they will move
simultaneously with the lower strata.
Sometimes, the lower portion of the main roof is easily mistaken for the immediate roof, especially when the
immediate roof is rather thick. The best criterion to differentiate one from the other is that whethet or not it has
the features of the periodic breakage and produces the periodic weight pressure in the face area.

3. Sequences of overburden movements in a longwall panel

As longwall mining moves along the direction of mining in a longwall panel, there are two distinctive phases of
overburden movements. The first phase of movement includes the distance from the setup entry to the complete
breakage of the upper strata in the main roof. During such an interval, the maximum roof pressure measured at
the face area is called the first weighting (fig.3). the distance from the setup entry to the first weighting is
defined as the first weighting interval Lo.
The second phases begins right after the first weighting and extebds to the completion of the panel mining.
During this period the roof pressure at the face area increases and decreases cyclically due to the cyclical
breakage of the immediate roof or the main roof or both. This phenomenon is called the periodic roof weighting.
The maximum pressure occuring in each period is the periodic roof weighting pressure, and the distance
between two consecutive roof weightings is called the periodic roof weighting interval, Lp.
In general, the first weighting pressure and interval are larger than the periodic roof weighting pressure and
interval.

Conceptually a softer coal seam is sandwiched between the relatively stronger roof and floor rocks which are
loaded by the weight of the overburden. stress is uniformly distributed in the coal seam under such conditions.
when the panel entries are developed, the equilibrium conditions are destroyed due to the presence of the
openings. stress distribution in the area has to be readjusted in order that a new state of equilibrium can be
achieved. As a result, a destressed zone occurs in the roof of the entries and the load is transferred into the
neighboring solid coal both in the panel and the pillars. The zones where the vertical pressure exceeds the
average overburden pressure are created in or near the edges of the panel and pillars. These zones are called the
abutments and the above-average pressure are the abutment pressures.
When longwall mining proceeds, abutment pressure will be formed around the edges of the gob and
superimposed on those created during entry development. An idealized vertical stress distribution around a
retreating longwall panel is shown in fig 1 where the vertical pressure distributions in the coal seam and in the
roof are illustrated. The vertical pressure distributions in the roof (fig 1 B) and the floor are quite similar except
the magnitudes in the floor may be either smaller or larger depending on Young’s modulus of the immediate
roof. The local stress concentrations around the ribs of the entries and crosscuts are ignored so that the general
trends of the vertical stress distributions can be clearly illustrated. The abutment pressure in front of the faceline
is called the front abutment pressure those along both sides of the panel in the gob area the side abutment
pressures. In the gob area, the maximum pressure realized is the overburden pressure. The front and the side
abutments intersect at the corners of the panel and superimpose on each other. The location of the peak front
abutment whether it is at the corners or at the center of the panel, depends on the physical properties of the
immediate roof and the main roof. Both the front and side abutment pressure decrease exponentially away from
the edges of the panel and return to the overburden pressure some distance away (CC and RR section).
Maximum side abutment pressure near the rib of the headentry and tailentry begins to increase when the face is
some distance inby. In increase continuously and reaches the maximum value when the face has passed.
Thereafter it stabilizes although in some cases yielding occurs (SS section)
The locations of maximum abutment pressure in the coal seam and in the roof do not necessarily occur in the
same vertical plane. They may offset each other, with maximum abutment pressure in the coal closer to the gob.
The fact that they are not in the same plane is related to the relative stiffness of the immediate roof strata and the
coal seam. As the ratio of Young’s modulus of the immediate roof to that of the coal seam increase, the offset of
maximum abutment pressure in the coal seam and in the roof will be decreased rapidly.
During the past ten years, considerable underground instrumentations have been performed (tabel 1). The result
are summarized in the following sections (note that data will be referred to by panel number)

1. Front abutment pressure

Depending on the local conditions, the front abutment pressure can first be detected at a distance of one time the
overburden depth away from the face. At this time, however, the pressure is very small. It begins to increase
rapidly when the face approaches to within 100ft (30m). It reaches the maximum value when the face is 3 – 320
ft away. After that the pressure drops drastically and vanishes at the faceline (Fig 2)
The width of the front abutment depends not only on the overburden depth, but also on the position along the
face. Fig 3 shows the width of the abutment. The distance from the tailend is normalized by the face width such
that N = 0 is the tailentry side and N = 1 is the headentry side. Obviously, the front abutment width is not
uniform across the panel width. It is wider at both ends of the face and decrease toward the center. The tailend is
generally wider because of the effects of the adjacent mined-out panel. The width at the panel center ranges
from 0,35 – 0,5 h. It is smaller when the face is close to the bleeder pillar than when it is far away from it. Two
curves in fig 3 illustrate this point; curves 3B represents front abutment width when the face was 200 ft (61m)
outby the bleeder pillars and curve 4 was about 80 ft (24m) outby. There is quite a difference in magnitude
between the two curves. The zone of front abutment is relatively uniform because they are near the bleeder
pillars.
The maximum front abutment pressure is not uniformly distributed and the peak front abutment pressure occurs
either at the corner or at the center depending highly on the physical properties of the roof rock. The maximum
front abutment pressure is defined as the highest value in the front abutment profile as shown in 2. This value
across the face width. The peak front abutment pressure is defined as the highest pressure in the maximum front
abutment pressure.
The peak front abutment pressure occurs usually at the corners (or T-junctions) of the panel when the immediate
roof rock is weak. A weak immediate roof does not impose a strong weighting effect on the front abutment.
Because it caves immediately behind the support. The peak abutment pressure will remain at the corners as long
as the weighting effects of the main roof do not come into play. In this respect there are two possible conditions:
first, the location of the main roof high above the coal seam (i.e., thick immediate roof) so that its movements
cannot be felt at the face area; and second, the face is located during the nonweighting period. In general most
geological conditions, coupled with thw stress concentration around the ribs of the headentry and tailentry,
satisty the first condition and the peak front abutment pressure occurs at the corners. With the exception of panel
1 and 5A, all the cases in Fig 4 belong to the first condition. The immediate roof in panel 5A is composed of a
strong sandstone stratum, 15 ft (4m) thick, which exerts strong periodic weighting and the peak front abutment
pressure at the corners occurs only when the second condition is satisfied. Similarly the instrumentation site
where the data were obtained for panel 1 was very likely the panel where the nonweighting occurred.
In general, the increment of the maximum front abutment pressure ranges from 0,2 to 6,4 σ0 (where σ0 is
average in-situ overburden pressure) depending on the geological conditions, face location with respect to
periodic roof weighting and the setuo entry, and adjacent mined-out areas. As mentioned earlier, the front
abutment pressure is smaller when the face is close to the bleeder pillars. If there is an adjacent mined-out panel,
the maximum front abutment pressure are larger near that side. This is why in most cases the peak abutment
pressure occurs at the tailentry T-junction. The difference inmaximum front abutment pressure between the
headentry and the tailentry sides is 1 σ0 for panel 2A and 1,7 σ0 for panel 6 (Fig. 4).
The location of a wider abutment pressure zone coincides with that of the maximum front abutment pressure
(Fig.3 and Fig. 4).
The yield zone (27) is the area betweet the faceline and the point where maximum front abutment pressure
occurs. It is not uniform across the face width (Fig. 5. The yield zone width ranges from 0,45 to 2,25 H (H =
mining height) with thw widest at the center of the panel. The yield zone is narrower when the face is near the
bleeder pillars. If the yield zone is wide, there will be more roof weight to be borne by the face powered
supports.

2. Side Abutment pressure

The side abutment pressure change is felt at the ribs of the headentry and tailentry at about the same time as the
front abutment pressure. As the face advances farther, the side abutment gradually builds up as well as extends
away from the ribs.
The process of the development of the side abutment pressure at the ribs can be classified into two extreme
types based on the relation between pressure build up and face location. The first type is that the side abutment
pressure at the ribs has reached the maximum values before the face arrives (Fig.6). After the face passes, the
side abutment pressure in the first row of chain pillars change very little while those in the following rows of
chain pillars increase considerably. The second type is just the opposite. Only a small increment of side
sbutment pressure occurs when the face arrives (Fig. 7). It reaches the maximum value only when the face has
well passed.
The causes for these two extreme types may have something to do with the panel width, geology, and coal
properties. The side abutment pressure at the ribs of the headentry and tailentry should be the smaller for ease of
maintenance. Fully developed side abutments at the ribs before the face arrives will cause more roof control
problems. Because zones of high shear stress will be created in the immediate roog near both ribs of the entry
due to the large differentials between the side abutment pressure at the ribs and that at the edges of the panel. If
the immediate roof is very weak, the roof control problems will spread over to the second and third entries. In
this respect, the second type has the clear advantage. However most to the actual cases fall in between these two
types.
The side abutment pressure is largest ath the ribs of the headentry and the tailentry and drops exponentially
away from the active panel (fig.6-fig.8). the magnitudes of the side abutment pressure change for the first row
od chain pillars range from 0,4 to 3,5 σ0 depending on the location inside the pillar. For most cases, there is a
pillar core where the pressure increase is smaller that both edges od the pillar. The distance from the bleeder
pillars will definitely affect the magnitude of the side abutment pressure (panel 8B in fig.8). However, this
influence will dimmish beyond a certain distance.
Although it is possible that the side abutment pressure at the ribs reaches the maximum value before the face
arrives, the side abutment pressure continues to extend outward from the active panel until the face passed far
beyond. It has found that the side abutment (or the influenced zone) increases with the overburden depth (Fig. 9)
such that : question 1
Where Ws is the width of the side abutment (or influenced zone) in feet, and h is the overburden depth in feet.
No specific relations between the side abutment and panel width or seam thickness can be found. Because the
zone of the side abutment is limited, the chain pillar system can be properly designed such that the next panel is
essentially undisturbed.
Depending on the total pillar width and the infuenced zone of the side abutment, the stress change in the pillar
when the face of the second panel is passing by may reach up to seven times of that when the first panel is
being mined (fig.10). The magnitude due to second panel mining ranges from 1,6 to 10 σ0 as compared to 0,4-
3,5 σ0 due to the first panel.

3. GOB Pressure
When the roof rocks first cave in the gob, the weight of the caved fragments forms the gob pressure. As the
caved fragments continue to pile up, so does the gob pressure. At some distance into the gob, the caved
fragments starts to take load from the upper strata. The maximum gob pressure will be the overburden weight
that occurs when gob takes the full load of the overburden weight.
Whether the gob pressure reaches the overburden weight depends highly on the pabel width. If the panel is too
narrow, the upper unbroken strata will be bridged by the side abutments resulting in gob pressure being more or
less the weight of the caving height.
Fig 2 shows the gob pressure measured along a cross section about 35 ft (11m) from the rib of the headentry.
The panel width in this case was 150 ft (46m). The gob pressure at this location was formed mostly by the
weight of the caved fragments.