Abstract: Gob-side entry retaining has shown great superiority in practical application. In order to promote the gob-side entry retaining technology in small-to-medium-scale coal mines, this paper has used analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and method of fuzzy synthesis assessment to evaluate the adaptability of gob-side entry retaining. According to experts’ experience and experimental results, six geological factors have been set i.e., burial depth, dip angle of coal seam, thickness of coal seam, lithology of roof, influence coefficient of immediate roof thickness, and roof lithology. Through AHP, the judgment matrix is structured and the weight of each factor is determined. For example, the adaptability rank of gob-side entry retaining of a roadway of a coal mine in southwest region is determined to be grade Ⅴ, consistent with the theory based on the experiments, which showed that the model can play a useful role in evaluating the adaptability of gob-side entry retaining.

Key words: fuzzy synthesis assessment method, the adaptability of gob-side entry retaining, geological factors, expert scoring, weights