Abstract: In this paper, to investigate the influence of different mining sequence of sublevels on gateways in conditions of gob-side entry retaining in three-soft thin coal seam group, we carried out numerical simulation study on the upward and downward mining sequences of sublevels respectively in the three-soft thin coal seam group with ultra-close distance in one coal mine of Southern Sichuan, based on the previous field investigation and analysis, shield supporting study and experimental determination of rock mechanics parameters. The results show that extrusion and shear failures are occurred easily in the roadway roof and roof of higher side when the downward mining sequence of sublevels is used, and the rock packing of higher side has poor stability, while the vertical stress and shear stress of lower side in the range of 0.5m decrease 1 MPa at least during upward mining, compared with the former mining sequence, and the produced horizontal stress can prevent the rock packing of lower side slip towards the gob side, which is beneficial to increase the initial strength of the rock packing.

Key words:  , thin coal seam group；gob-side entry retaining；sublevel；mining sequence