Continuous three-dimensional stress monitoring in roof of coal mines for investigating the rockburst control effect with hydraulic fracturing

Abstract The occurrence of rockburst in coal mines is closely related to the three-dimensional stress in coal and rock mass. Through hydraulic fracturing measurements in roof, the three-dimensional stress in roof before and after hydraulic fracturing as well as during working face advancing was monitored, and the effect of hydraulic fracturing in roof on controlling rockburst was studied. The test results show that (1) after hydraulic fracturing, the three principal stresses in roof decreased remarkably, whose maximum reduction was about 20%, while the elastic strain energy in roof decreased by about 31% as well; (2) as the working face advanced, the three principal stresses in roof in front of the working face would increase continuously until reaching peaks and induce the strata fracture, and the variation of the elastic strain energy in roof was basically consistent with that of the magnitude of three-dimensional stress; (3) with hydraulic fracturing, the position of the peak stress moved from 11 m to 21 m in front of the working face, the peaks of the three principal stresses decreased, whose maximum reduction was about 32%, and the peak of the elastic strain energy in roof also significantly decreased by about 51%. The field investigation shows that hydraulic fracturing in roof can release the stress and elastic strain energy in coal and rock mass instantaneously, and will reduce the risk of rockburst; hydraulic fracturing in roof can be an effective pre-destressing method to reduce the stress and energy concentration in coal and rock mass during mining, and will prevent the risk of rockburst.