Subsidence control method by inversely-inclined slicing and upward mining for ultra-thick steep seams

Ultra-thick steep coal seam mining will inevitably lead to the increase of greater and violent ground subsidence and deformation. A subsidence control method by inversely-inclined slicing and upward mining is proposed in this paper. By this method, the sequence of collapse of overlying strata and the direction of propagation of strata movement are changed, the extent of roof-side deformation thereby is lessened, and boundary angle of roof-side subsidence is reduced by 5°–10°. The mechanism of this mining method for control of strata movement has been evidenced by numerical simulation and experiments with similarity materials. A subsidence prediction model based on the variation of mining influence propagation angle can be used to evaluate the surface movement and deformation of the mining method. The application of the method in No.3 Mine in Yaojie mining area has yielded the expected result.