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Water-sand mixture inrush through weakly cemented overburden at a shallow depth in the Yili coal mining area

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Abstract

The safety and efficiency of mining in western coal mining areas of China are threatened by water and sand bursting disasters. In the current study, we determined the possibility of sand bursting via formula of the related norms in China for the weakly cemented Paleogene glutenite aquifer located at the 21–1 coal seam roof within Yili ecological area, Xinjiang, China. We tested the failure characteristics of overburden under different mining thicknesses using a similar material model. Furthermore, we simulated the development process of overburden fractures and the water pressure of a Paleogene aquifer by varying mining thickness (4 m and 8 m) using a three-dimensional model with different working panels via PFC3D. Results demonstrate that at a mining thickness of 4 m, the caving zone does not affect the Paleogene aquifer and the probability of sand break is low. In contrast, at 8 m, the sand break probability is high as the caving zone development height enters the Paleogene. Furthermore, at the same thickness, the water pressure of the aquifer gradually drops to 0 during the later stage of mining. This indicates the entry of the aquifer water through the working panel cracks, and consequently, the probability of water and sand bursting in the working panel is high. When the mining thickness is 4 m, this probability is low due to the normal water inflow during the mining of the working panel. Our results strengthen the theoretical and technical systems required for the prevention and control of water and sand bursting in the western coal mine area of China.

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Correspondence to Shi Lei.

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Responsible Editor: Murat Karakus

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Lei, S., Feng, X. & Shidong, W. Water-sand mixture inrush through weakly cemented overburden at a shallow depth in the Yili coal mining area. Arab J Geosci 14, 1103 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-07304-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-07304-y

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