High Mining Face Flexible Reinforcement to Prevent Coal Wall Spalling by Cuttable Aluminum–Plastic Pipe Pre-Grouting

A larger mining height leads to easy caving of the coal wall in the working face. The flexible reinforcement method during the mining period of the working face affects the normal mining of the working face, and the high strength of the traditional bolt/cable material affects the operation of the shearer drum, so it is necessary to seek a reinforcement material which does not affect the production and the drum coal cutting. This paper proposed a technical scheme of coal wall reinforcement by pre-grouting with a cuttable aluminum–plastic composite pipe which is easy to cut during mining in the working face, tested the mechanical properties of the “grouting + flexible pipe” specimen, and obtained the optimal support spacing by numerical simulation and carrying out an industrial test. The results show that the tensile strength of aluminum–plastic composite pipe is much higher than that of coal spalling and the elongation is much higher than that of the anchor rod. When double-row composite grouting holes are arranged 1.5 and 3.0 m away from the roof, the supporting effect is better. Underground grouting shows that pre-grouting before mining according to the advancing speed of the working face 10–14 days in advance can effectively fill the coal cracks and significantly improve the integrity of the coal wall.