Abstract: Based on the characteristics of gentle dip and thin iron ore body, the new method of longwall mining with hydraulic support is proposed to explore the ore body. In this paper, taking the ore body from -8’to -16’section between the Liangshui Well of Guandian iron mine and Dazhuang mine as the research object, the deformation and failure regularities of surrounding rock in stress, displacement and plastic zones were studied firstly by similar simulation experiment. Then, numerical simulation was applied to simulate the variation rules of surrounding rock in stress, displacement and plastic zones, and the results was also compared with the similar simulation experiments. The results show that the destruction of surrounding rock has obvious characteristics of intermittent and mutagenicity, and the fracture directions are parallel to each other. In the vertical direction, the fracture step of surrounding rock changes in different locations. Meanwhile, it shows evident shear action in the face end, and prominent  tension action in the top of goaf. In addition, the surface subsidence near the working face is smaller, and shows parabola shape.

Key words: long-wall mining, gently inclined thin ore body, deformation and failure, model experiment