Experimental study on the mechanisms of fault reactivation and coal bumps induced by mining

Experiments simulating the effect of coal mine stopping through a fault zone were designed based on a working face of the Qianqiu coal mine in Yima, China. Through simulation of the physical process of fault reactivation and coal bumps, the displacement of the surrounding strata and evolution characteristics of fault stress under the effect of mining were studied. The mechanism of fault reactivation induced by coal mining was analyzed. The results show that shortly before fault reactivation, the normal stress and shear stress increased rapidly and the risk of a fault slip occurring was also increased. The fault reactivation, caused by the mining activity, occurred when the working face was 25–35 m from the fault along the hanging wall. The influence of mining increased the possibility of fault reactivation, while the local failure of the bearing capacity of the working face was the direct cause of the fault slip. Our results indicate that the influence of fault slip on the coal of the working face had a transient impact and acted as a loading-unloading function.