Study of shield support characteristics and their influence on the roof behaviour in coal longwalls

Abstract

To ensure good roof control in coal longwalls, the correct handling of a shield support is of equal importance with the correct design of the support. This paper summarizes an underground survey of the performance of shield supports. The distributions of geometrical parameters as well as of parameters of support resistance were characterized by a wide scatter in the data. The effect of these parameters on the frequency of falls of ground showed a significant correlation.