Stress analysis of longwall top coal caving.pdf

ARTICLE IN PRESS International Journal of Rock Mechanics Mining Sciences 47 (2010) 30–41 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Rock Mechanics Mining Sciences journal homepage: /locate/ijrmms Stress analysis of longwall top coal caving Habib Alehossein a,b,, Brett A. Poulsen a a CSIRO Exploration Mining, Brisbane, Australia b University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Longwall top coal caving (LTCC) is a relatively new method of mining thick coal seams that is currently Received 3 November 2008 achieving high productivity and efficiency in application, particularly in China. The technique is similar Received in revised form to traditional longwall mining in that a cutting head slices coal from the lower section of the coal seam 3 May 2009 onto a conveyor belt installed in front of the hydraulic support near the cutting face. In modern LTCC an Accepted 17 July 2009 additional rear conveyor belt is located behind the support, to which the flow of the caved coal from the Available online 8 August 2009 upper part of the seam can be controlled by a moveable flipper attached to the canopy of the support. Keywords: The mining method relies on the fracturing of the top coal by the front abutment pressure to achieve