Longwall surface subsidence control by technology of isolated overburden grout injection

Surface subsidence is a typical ground movement due to longwall mining, which causes a series of environmental problems and hazards. In China, intensive coal extractions are commonly operated under dense-populated coalfields, which exacerbates the negative subsequences resulted from surface settlement. Therefore, effective approaches to control the ground subsidence are in urgent need for the Chinese coal mining industry. This paper presents a newly developed subsidence control technology: isolated overburden grout injection, including the theory, technique and applications. Relevant procedures such as injection system design, grouting material selection, borehole layout, grout take estimation and injection process design are proposed. The applicability of this technology has been demonstrated through physical modelling, field measurements, and case studies. Since 2009, the technology has been successfully applied to 14 longwall areas in 9 Chinese coal mines. The ultimate surface subsidence factors vary from 0.10 to 0.15. This method has a great potential to be popularized and performed where longwall mining are implemented under villages and ground infrastructures.