Theory and technical framework of coal mine rock burst origin prevention

Although the safety in the production of the mines in China has improved, coal bursts pose a serious threat to coal mines, especially deep mining. There have been eight coal bursts accidents with forty-eight deaths in the past five years. These accidents stem from the stopgap measures in terms of prevention and control and the unawareness of the occurrence mechanism of coal bursts. Furthermore, the sufficiently-mined mines in the east of China, such as the Juye and Yanzhou coal mines in Shandong province, are characterized by deep mining and strong disturbance. Whereas the insufficiently-mined mines in the west, such as the Ordos coal mine in Inner Mongolia province and Binchang coal mine in Shaanxi province, are characterized by high-intensity mining and hard rock strata. These complex mining environments create new challenges for preventing and controlling coal bursts. Therefore, the mechanism, prevention, and control of coal bursts have become a major engineering and scientific problem to be addressed urgently. The source-preventing method is the key issue in handling it. This paper reviewed the documents regarding the basic theory and numerical technology of coal bursts, monitoring and identification technology of dangerous zones, regional and local prevention and control technology, and equipment. Then, a new perspective of source prevention and control was proposed. Given this perspective, two scientific questions were detailed, including the source properties and prevention and control principles of coal burst during the process. Furthermore, four technical questions were also discussed, containing the fine simulation technology for the whole process of coal burst, the monitoring technology of coal rock stress and full-scale overburden structure in the entire life cycle of the mine, the accurate and intelligent identification technology of the danger zone with the proneness of coal burst, the collaborative prevention, and control technology of coal burst in the coal mine. Finally, the corresponding prevention and control methods and technical frameworks were formulated according to the characteristics of production and new mines. The findings will create a new way to prevent and control coal bursts. It also provides theoretical bases and technical support for the “zero bursts” goal for coal mines.