The analysis of different prediction methods of subsidence due to longwall coal mining has been done. The analysis of the geotechnical conditions has been done for the site of the coal mine named after Ruban in Kuzbass where there is a suite of thick coal seams and the productive aeries of sandstone and siltstone of suite Kolchuginskaya.Top layers of Neogene-Quaternary overburden soils represent itself subsiding structurally unstable loess loam. It is proposed to use numerical simulation with FEM for the prediction of deformations of undermined rock mass and the ground surface. Abaqus software has been used for this purpose. The geomechanical calculations of subsidence have been done for two longwalls in one coal seam as well as for five and three longwalls in two coal seams. In order to verify the results obtained in the simulation the calculation of subsidence parameters on the basis of «Rules of protection ...» has been done also. The comparison of subsidence results gained by empirical methods and modeling is provided. For the prediction of failure zones on the surface it is proposed to use finite element modeling by using an additional parameter «Tension Cutoff» describing properties in Mohr-Coulomb plasticity model.

Keywords

Geomechanics, prediction, subsidence, underground mining, coal deposits, numerical simulation, finite element method, surface failures, Kuzbass.