Abstract: Based on the geological occurrence conditions in the Western 3 Mining Area of Liudong Mine, by the theoretical analysis, this paper firstly determined the contiguous seams were mined simultaneously by descending caving method, and the roadways of the working face by mining simultaneously were arranged outward staggered. The numerical simulation was adopted to optimize the distance between roadways of contiguous seams by mining simultaneously, we drew the conclusion that the reasonable distance between roadways was 15 m in the Western 3 Mining Area of Liu dong Mine. Finally，the results were applied to 37102 and 37202 working faces in the Liu dong Mine, and the application result showed that during the mining of 37102 working face, the convergence of side wall was 131 mm and the roof-to-floor convergence was 61 mm in the lower roadway of 37202 working face. The influence scope was limited in the range of 15 m in front of working face and 25 m behind working face. Layout of roadways in close contiguous seams by simultaneous mining is rational and the deformation of the surrounding rock of roadways is controlled effectively.

Key words: contiguous seams, mining simultaneously, optimal layout