There is complex air leakage in the mining of shallow buried close distance coal seam group, which affects the generation and migration of CO in the goaf, and easily leads to exceeding safety limits of CO in the return corner of the working face, which threatens the safety of underground production. To examine this problem, taking Lijiahao Coal Mine as an example, this study analyses the generation law of CO gas, the distribution law of overburden fractures, the characteristics of air leakage in the goaf, the sources of CO in the return corner, and the migration and accumulation law of CO in the goaf under multi-source air leakage in the mining of shallow buried close distance coal seam group through experiment tests, numerical simulations, observations and theoretical analyses. The results indicated that there is an exponential growth relationship between the CO generation rate and the coal temperature, and the critical temperature for rapid oxidation of coal samples is between 70 and 80 °C. The 31,115 working face has complicated air leakage from the working face and ground surface and the goaf of this coal seam. The surface air converges to the return corner through the mining fissure of overburden and 2-2 coal goaf, and the air leakage of the working face flows out from the return roadway through the goaf. The gas leakage in the overlying goaf and the oxidation of residual coal are the main sources of CO in the return corner. The CO generated during the coal mining process and the CO generated by the trackless rubber-tired vehicle operation will increase the CO concentration in the return corner to varying degrees. Under the effect of multi-source air leakage, CO from the overlying goaf and the residual coal in the goaf of this coal seam are migrated to the air return side of the goaf, resulting in the accumulation of CO in the return corner, and both of them have a linear positive correlation with the CO concentration in the return corner. The results of the study have scientific guidance for the control of air leakage and the prevention of CO excess in the goaf.
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