Experiment and Application of Coalcrete on Roadway Stability: A Comparative Analysis

Improving roadway stability in deep underground mines is quite challenging, as the conventional support structures easily fail. Roadway collapse and large deformation occur just several months after tunnel excavation. In this study, a relatively new prereinforcement technique, the jet grouting (JG), is introduced to improve roadway stability. A field test was performed for evaluating the practicability and applicability of JG in soft coal mass. A series of laboratory tests were conducted to assess the properties of coalcrete (coal‐grout after JG treatment). A two‐dimensional numerical model was established for validating the input parameters. Based on the verified model, three JG support cases for roadway were modeled and compared with a conventional support case, namely, the currently used support in this mine “rock bolts + U‐shaped steel set + shotcrete.” The results show that the proposed prereinforced JG support structures can considerably control the deformation and failure zone of the roadway and improve the bearing capacity of coal mass. The mechanism of maintaining roadway stability using JG techniques is further revealed. Some suggestions are further presented to improve the stability of the jet‐grouted roadway.