Analysis of the Space–Time Synergy of Coal and Gas Co-mining

[Image: see text] The co-mining of coal and gas is the inevitable future direction of the mining of coal resources. Taking coal mining and gas extraction as the two subsystems of the coal and gas co-mining system, to reveal the mechanism of action between coal mining and gas extraction is the premise of orderly co-mining. On the basis of a similar simulation experiment of coal and gas co-mining, by obtaining the gas migration law during the mining process and collecting a large amount of data on the coal production and gas extraction, it is found that the two subsystems of coal extraction and gas extraction in the coal and gas co-mining system promote and restrict each other. The control parameters for coal mining and gas extraction that affect co-mining are identified. To coordinate the process connection between coal mining and gas extraction, the optimal synergistic relationship of co-mining should be found. The recovery rate and economic benefit of coal and gas resources are taken as the optimization objective function of coal and gas co-mining. Taking the safety production laws, regulations, and production technology-level restrictions of coal mining and gas drainage as constraints, by constituting a nonlinear model for the collaborative optimization of coal and gas co-mining, the method of determining the optimal advancing speed and optimal gas drainage volume of the working face is proposed. By optimizing variables, such as coal mining advancement, coal mining time, gas extraction time, and gas extraction volume, the co-mining of coal and gas is ensured to be safe and efficient, and the output of coal and gas resources is optimized. The time connection and the process succession of the two subsystems are attained. An overall orderly structure is formed between the coal mining system and the gas extraction system, and the mechanism of the cooperative co-mining of coal and gas is revealed. This research has important significance with regard to improving the basic theoretical system of coal and gas co-mining. The control variables of the co-mining working face in the Shaqu mine are optimized. After optimization, the profit is increased by 16.3%, and the gas extraction rate is increased by 2.6%. The drilling spacing is optimized according to the optimization results. The simulation shows that 7 m is the optimal drilling spacing of the working face.