Deformation Mechanism of Surrounding Rock in Weakly Cemented Thick Coal Seam Roadways and Research on Graded Anchor Composite Support Technology

Deformation Mechanism of Surrounding Rock in Weakly Cemented Thick Coal Seam Roadways and Research on Graded Anchor Composite Support Technology | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Deformation Mechanism of Surrounding Rock in Weakly Cemented Thick Coal Seam Roadways and Research on Graded Anchor Composite Support Technology Jianxin Mao, Yibo Fan, Gangwei Fan, Jianying Zhang, Ziquan Wu, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6546024/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In the western mining areas, roadways in weakly cemented thick coal seams are highly prone to large deformations and support failures due to loose roof conditions and low cementation strength, exacerbated by stress redistribution and weathering effects. This study investigates the 11703 transportation roadway in the Dananhu No. 7 Coal Mine in Hami, Xinjiang, employing numerical simulations, theoretical analysis, and in-situ monitoring to systematically explore the deformation mechanism of surrounding rock and optimize support design. The results reveal that under excavation and weathering conditions, the roof undergoes an evolutionary process of “stress redistribution – plastic softening – interlayer separation – crushing and expansion,” eventually forming a 3.5 m deep plastic failure zone. This leads to excessive stress on the rock bolts, resulting in support failure. Moreover, the existing support system fails to establish an effective deep-shallow collaborative constraint; short bolts have insufficient control depth, while long cables do not fully mobilize their load-bearing capacity, making it difficult to restrain roof separation and deformation. To address these issues, this study proposes a Graded Anchor Composite Support Technology consisting of "surface concrete – shallow high pre-tensioned bolts – mid-depth short cables – deep long cables." The optimized scheme enhances shallow rigid constraints, increases bolt pre-tension, and strengthens mid-to-deep support, effectively confining the plastic zone and controlling surrounding rock deformation. Numerical simulations and field tests demonstrate that the optimized support system significantly suppresses plastic zone expansion, improves rock-support synergy, reduces roof subsidence by 73.3%, and decreases plastic zone depth by 40%. The research findings provide theoretical guidance and engineering reference for roadway support design under similar geological conditions. Physical sciences/Energy science and technology Physical sciences/Engineering Weakly cemented coal seam roadway deformation stress redistribution graded anchor support roof stability Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 23 Jun, 2025 Reviews received at journal 16 Jun, 2025 Reviews received at journal 12 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Jun, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 10 Jun, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 05 Jun, 2025 Editor invited by journal 05 Jun, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 01 May, 2025 First submitted to journal 01 May, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6546024","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":469511153,"identity":"b297db0a-6027-4c86-a0df-45bf6d2d740f","order_by":0,"name":"Jianxin Mao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"State Investment Hami Energy Development Co., Ltd","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jianxin","middleName":"","lastName":"Mao","suffix":""},{"id":469511154,"identity":"c4369833-e3fd-4df4-a237-4b674b9335e7","order_by":1,"name":"Yibo 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roadway deformation, stress redistribution, graded anchor support, roof stability","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6546024/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6546024/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn the western mining areas, roadways in weakly cemented thick coal seams are highly prone to large deformations and support failures due to loose roof conditions and low cementation strength, exacerbated by stress redistribution and weathering effects. This study investigates the 11703 transportation roadway in the Dananhu No. 7 Coal Mine in Hami, Xinjiang, employing numerical simulations, theoretical analysis, and in-situ monitoring to systematically explore the deformation mechanism of surrounding rock and optimize support design. The results reveal that under excavation and weathering conditions, the roof undergoes an evolutionary process of \u0026ldquo;stress redistribution \u0026ndash; plastic softening \u0026ndash; interlayer separation \u0026ndash; crushing and expansion,\u0026rdquo; eventually forming a 3.5 m deep plastic failure zone. This leads to excessive stress on the rock bolts, resulting in support failure. Moreover, the existing support system fails to establish an effective deep-shallow collaborative constraint; short bolts have insufficient control depth, while long cables do not fully mobilize their load-bearing capacity, making it difficult to restrain roof separation and deformation. To address these issues, this study proposes a Graded Anchor Composite Support Technology consisting of \"surface concrete \u0026ndash; shallow high pre-tensioned bolts \u0026ndash; mid-depth short cables \u0026ndash; deep long cables.\" The optimized scheme enhances shallow rigid constraints, increases bolt pre-tension, and strengthens mid-to-deep support, effectively confining the plastic zone and controlling surrounding rock deformation. Numerical simulations and field tests demonstrate that the optimized support system significantly suppresses plastic zone expansion, improves rock-support synergy, reduces roof subsidence by 73.3%, and decreases plastic zone depth by 40%. The research findings provide theoretical guidance and engineering reference for roadway support design under similar geological conditions.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Deformation Mechanism of Surrounding Rock in Weakly Cemented Thick Coal Seam Roadways and Research on Graded Anchor Composite Support Technology","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-06-11 09:03:51","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6546024/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-06-23T06:33:45+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-06-17T02:03:10+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-06-12T10:10:07+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"90575238377494972434944663254517824729","date":"2025-06-11T02:14:10+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"200840498300239117960211690279338835905","date":"2025-06-10T10:16:59+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"21468376176581349633625221382911866792","date":"2025-06-10T06:27:40+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-06-10T06:14:30+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-06-05T04:24:09+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-06-05T04:20:55+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-05-02T03:04:34+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2025-05-02T03:03:24+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"ecd71485-2aee-4368-9b69-54a782721de7","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 11th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":49851013,"name":"Physical sciences/Energy science and technology"},{"id":49851014,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-08-04T16:45:30+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-6546024","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-12343-6","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2025-08-01 16:13:37","publishedOnDateReadable":"August 1st, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-06-11 09:03:51","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-025-12343-6","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-12343-6","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6546024","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6546024","identity":"rs-6546024","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}