Instability leading to coal bumps and nonlinear evolutionary mechanisms for a coal-pillar-and-roof system

This paper studies the unstable mechanisms of the mechanical system that is composed of the stiff hosts (roof and floor) and the coal pillar using catastrophe theory. It is assumed that the roof is an elastic beam and the coal pillar is a strain-softening medium which can be described by the Weibull’s distribution theory of strength. It is found that the instability leading to coal bump depends mainly on the system’s stiffness ratio k, which is defined as the ratio of the flexural stiffness of the beam to the absolute value of the stiffness at the turning point of the constitutive curve of the coal pillar, and the homogeneity index m or shape parameter of the Weibull’s distribution for the coal pillar. The applicability of the cusp catastrophe is demonstrated by applying the equations to the Mentougou coal mine. A nonlinear dynamical model, which is derived by considering the time-dependent property of the coal pillar, is used to study the physical prediction of coal bumps. An algorithm of inversion for determining the parameters of the nonlinear dynamical model is suggested for seeking the precursory abnormality from the observed series of roof settlement. A case study of the Muchengjian coal mine is conducted and its nonlinear dynamical model is established from the observation series using the algorithm of inversion. An important finding is that the catastrophic characteristic index D (i.e., the bifurcation set of the cusp catastrophe model) drastically increases to a high peak value and then quickly drops close to instability. From the viewpoint of damage mechanics of coal pillar, a dynamical model of acoustic emission (AE) is established for modeling the AE activities in the evolutionary process of the system. It is revealed that the values of m and the evolutionary path (D = 0 or D ≠ 0) of the system have a great impact on the AE activity patterns and characters.