Abstract: According to the abutment pressure distribution of stope lateral coal under the condition of small coal pillar with gob-side entry, some neutral plane areas where the deformation of coal is small in coal pillar have been studied through numerical calculation and in-situ measurements. As the size of coal pillar increases, the width of neutral plane area increases. However, the speeding-up of neutral plane area occupying the width of coal pillar decreases and becomes stable. The research has found that the intensity of bolt support can noticeably increase the width of maximum bearing and bearing ability for neutral plane area. The stability control technology of small coal pillar with full plastic zone was put forward. And the research results were successfully applied to engineering practice.

Key words: gob-side entry driving, small coal pillar, neutral plane, numerical simulation