Stress Distribution Characteristics of the Surrounding Rock of the Gob-Side Coal–Rock Roadway in a Gently Inclined Coal Seam under the Influence of Excavation and Mining Disturbance Based on Infrared Detection

To study the stress distribution characteristics of the surrounding rock of the gob-side coal–rock roadway in a gently inclined coal seam under the influence of excavation and mining disturbance, a physically similar simulation experiment was carried out. With an infrared thermal imager and professional infrared thermal analysis software (SmartView 4.3), the 2D and 3D temperature fields of the detection object were obtained, the numerical simulations were conducted, and the stress state of the surrounding rock was indirectly analyzed. The results indicated that during the excavation disturbance stage, the stress mainly occurred at the coal pillar side. When the coal pillar widths gradually decreased from 10 to 3 m, the stress monitoring value of the surrounding rock showed that the change process was "rising, decreasing, then rising again," and the increase of the stress level of the surrounding rock was the greatest when the width was 8 m. With the increase of mining disturbance intensity, the coal pillar yielded instability gradually, and the stress concentration area of the surrounding rock gradually shifted from the initial coal pillar side to the lower solid coal side. Under the influence of excavation and mining disturbance, the range of relatively high or low temperatures of the surrounding rock was basically consistent with the large and small area distribution of the stress monitoring value during the surrounding rock stress concentration and transfer. This showed that the method of indirect analysis of the surrounding rock stress state based on infrared temperature detection was highly feasible. The numerical simulation results showed that under the influence of excavation and mining disturbance, the stress distribution of the surrounding rock was basically consistent with the infrared temperature field detection results during the surrounding rock stress concentration and transfer. Our research conclusions provide a scientific basis and theoretical guidance for the deformation mechanism and control technology of the surrounding rock of gob-side coal–rock roadways in a gently inclined coal seam.