Experimental Study on Displacement Field of Strata Overlying Goaf with Sloping Coal Seam

To study the displacement caused by underground mining, the displacement field in the strata overlying the mine was simulated in nine similar-material models with coal seam dip angles of 0°–80°. Digital close-range photogrammetry was employed to observe the displacement in these models and produce displacement vector diagrams of observation points set on the model surfaces. The movement boundary of the rock mass was extracted and determined. According to the displacement vectors’ direction, the displacement field within the movement boundary was divided into five zones: two zones with displacement vectors pointing towards the goaf center, two zones with vectors pointing towards the coal pillar, and one zone with displacement vectors pointing vertically downward. A symmetry index was defined to analyze the symmetry of the displacement field, and the results show that as the coal seam dip angle increased from 0° to 80°, the displacement field in the strata changed according to the following pattern: symmetric → asymmetric → nearly symmetric, with a transition angle of about 45°. The percentage of the area of the above-defined five zones relative to the displacement field’s total area also changed, showing a regular pattern. This study also revealed that the movement boundary inside the overlaying rock layers is not a straight line, but an S-shaped curve. These findings can enhance our understanding of the internal mechanism of ground subsidence and contribute to more effective prediction of the deformation occurring inside a given rock mass.