Introduction. Reliable forecasts of pillars geomechanical state are required to ensure rhythmic and safe work when mining a coal bed. Research aim is to construct a state model of the coal pillar located between the headways, based on the fundamental methods of elasticity theory and mechanics of a granular media, carry out a computational experiment within the model, and analyse the results. Methodology. The stress field in the coal pillar has been constructed in the course of solving the elastoplastic problem. By replacing the ultimately stressed marginal zone of the bed with the stresses which act within the zone, the problem has been reduced to the second exterior boundary value problem of elasticity theory and has been solved by the boundary element method. Ordinary and special Coulomb–Mohr criteria simultaneously fulfilled for the coal bed and rock mass contact are the criterion of the limit state onset. Actual pillar load is determined by integrating the vertical stress curve along the bed roof, which has been obtained from elastoplastic problem solution, while the ultimate load is determined from the condition that the whole pillar is in ultimately stressed state. Results. The dependence between the safety factor of the pillar between two identical headways, determined by V. D. Shevyakov method, and the growth of its width represents a graph in the form of a monotonically increasing curve. The curve flattens as soon as the depth increases. Summary. The results from the developed model of coal rock mass geomechanical state can be successfully used as coal pillar strength forecasts.
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