A Prediction Method for Height of Water Flowing Fractured Zone Based on Sparrow Search Algorithm–Elman Neural Network in Northwest Mining Area

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I found this article very clear and well-explained. There is the right amount of figures too. The development is fluid, and it is not difficult to read. The conclusion is also well told. One major comment is the lack of a section with geological settings. This should be a separate section after the introduction.    Besides:    The map of the study location should be moved to the introduction or geological setting section. YOu should also include a context map with China contours.    Figure 8 - Explain the blue color's meaning in the legend or figure caption.    Table 2 - reduce the number of decimals from 4 to 2   Please reword 'fully mining' in Line 107 - I do not understand what you mean.   Increase the font in Figure 1  

Author Response

RESPONSES to the Reviewer 1 Comments

1. One major comment is the lack of a section with geological settings. This should be a separate section after the introduction.

RESPONSES:

Thank you for your advice. A section with geological settings has been added in line 65-84, page 2.

2. The map of the study location should be moved to the introduction or geological setting section. You should also include a context map with China contours.

RESPONSES:

Thank you very much for this important comment.

The map of the study location has been redrawn and moved to the geological setting section. according to reviewer’s comment, in Line 83-84, page 2.

3. Figure 8 - Explain the blue color's meaning in the legend or figure caption.

RESPONSES:

Thanks for your reminder. I'm sorry for my mistake. The Figure 8 (Line 316, page 11) was redrawn and the marginal data of the blue color was added.

4. Table 2 - reduce the number of decimals from 4 to 2.

RESPONSES:

Thanks for your advice. As suggested by the reviewer, the number of decimals from 4 to 2 in the Table 2 (page 10) were reduced and changed the other corresponding parts (Line 291, page 10; Line 418, page 16).

5. Please reword 'fully mining' in Line 107 - I do not understand what you mean.

RESPONSES:

Thanks for your reminder. Considering the Reviewer’s suggestion, that terminology of 'fully mining' were corrected as 'critical mining'. (Line 126, page 3).

6. Increase the font in Figure 1.

RESPONSES:

Thank you for pointing out this problem in our manuscript. the font in this picture (Line 161, page5) was increased.

 

We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. And here we did not list the changes made to reduce the repetition rate but marked in the red in revised paper.

Special thanks to you for your good comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

A Prediction Method for Height of Water Flowing Fractured 2 Zone Based on Sparrow Search Algorithm-Elman Neural Net- 3 work in North West Mining Area

Considerations 

1.       Page 3:

- Table 1. Detail more and discuss the results presented in the table. E.: What values are used for normalized parameter calculations?

 

2.       Page 5:

This section may be divided by subheadings. It should provide a concise and precise 151 description of the experimental results, their interpretation, as well as the experimental 152 conclusions that can be drawn. (I suggest removing.)

 

3.       Page 10: Improve figure 8. Improve figure 8, especially the blue markings.

4.       Page 11: Improve figure 9. Improve figure 9. Do you have any equipment in the laboratory to carry out the experiment? If so, I suggest adding a photo.

5.       Page 11: At vertical heights of 91 m, 101 m, 110 m, and 124 m, the pressurized water volume 320 reached a peak and then gradually decreased. (These values can be shown in the figure.). Figures 10 and 11 (Further detail the results shown in these figures.)

6.       I suggest evaluating the influence of the pressure drop of the system in figure 9 in the calculations, because it was related to mining height (importance score: 0.416, Figure 12).

7.       Conclusion:

………… strata. we considered ..... (capital letter)

……… (mining method, the ratio of the thickness of hard rock layers and soft rock layers in the bedrock, buried depth, mining height, working face length) (I suggest adding the study of the pressure drop in the system).

Author Response

RESPONSES to the Reviewer 2 Comments

1. Page3-Table 1. Detail more and discuss the results presented in the table. E.: What values are used for normalized parameter calculations?

RESPONSES:

Thank you for your reminder. Adjustments have been made in response to the suggestions.

The detailed description of the data in Table 1 (Line 136-145, page 4) have been added. All influencing factors selected in Table 1 and the measured height of the water flowing fractured zone are normalized to between 0 and 1 respectively.

2. Page 5: This section may be divided by subheadings. It should provide a concise and precise description of the experimental results, their interpretation, as well as the experimental conclusions that can be drawn. (I suggest removing.)

RESPONSES:

Thank you for your reminder. This part has been deleted and the manuscript has been carefully checked to avoid low-level problems.

3. Page 10: Improve figure 8. Improve figure 8, especially the blue markings.

RESPONSES:

Thank you for your reminder. The Figure 8 was improved to clearly show the information about formation (Line 316, page 11), and the marginal data of the blue color was added.

4. Page 11: Improve figure 9. Improve figure 9. Do you have any equipment in the laboratory to carry out the experiment? If so, I suggest adding a photo.

RESPONSES:

Thank you for your reminder. The Figure 9 was improved and the statement about this figure was added in Line 325-326, page 11. And the photo of field test related equipment was added in Figure 9(a) in Line 327-328, page 12, Figure 9 (b) depicts the borehole positions and measuring point layout.

The upward water injection method was used to measure the height of the water flowing fractured zone of Coal mine, the main principle is that after the upper and lower ends of the test section are sealed by the capsule, the test section was injected with water. By analysing the amount of water injected and pressure drop into the stratum per unit time, the development height of the roof water-flowing fractured zone can be determined.

5. Page 11: At vertical heights of 91 m, 101 m, 110 m, and 124 m, the pressurized water volume reached a peak and then gradually decreased. (These values can be shown in the figure.). Figures 10 and 11 (Further detail the results shown in these figures.)

RESPONSES:

Thank you for pointing out this problem in our manuscript. Adjustments have been made in response to the suggestions.

The positions of figures 10 and 11 in the original manuscript have been reversed and revised，and the units of the Y-axis has been corrected to m³.h^-1. Further detail the results were marked and shown in these figures. In Figure 10 (Line 351-352, page 13), four points (93 m, 101 m, 110 m, and 124 m) that first reached the peak and then declined were marked, In Figure 11 (Line 353-354, page 13), 126m (after which the total amount of water injected into the formation tended to level off) was indicated; Figure 10 and Figure 11 were described separately in line 340-341 and line 344-346 on page 12. In addition, 91m in line 341 has been corrected to 93m.

6. I suggest evaluating the influence of the pressure drop of the system in figure 9 in the calculations, because it was related to mining height (importance score: 0.416, Figure 12).

RESPONSES:

We appreciate the reviewer’s insightful suggestion and agree that it would be useful to evaluate the influence of the pressure drop.

In the field, the height of mine water flowing fractured zone was determined by analyzing the variation of water volume into different strata in unit time. It was necessary to use different pressures (such as 1.2 MPa, 1.6 MPa, 2.0 MPa) for multiple experiments, and the results obtained are comprehensively analyzed. So, the height of mine water flowing fractured zone were credible. In this paper, we consider less about the impact of pressure drop because of the limitations of site test data and the influence of pressure drop on water injection will be further discussed in the following work.

7. Line 109, ……strata. we considered ... (Capital letter)

RESPONSES:

Thanks for your reminder. I'm sorry for my mistake. Line 401, the word of “we” were corrected as “We”.

8. … (mining method, the ratio of the thickness of hard rock layers and soft rock layers in the bedrock, buried depth, mining height, working face length) (I suggest adding the study of the pressure drop in the system).

RESPONSES:

We are appreciative of the reviewer’s suggestion and agree that it is a good idea to add the pressure drop to the original five influencing factors. The influence of pressure drop on water injection will be further discussed in the following work. Thank you very much.

 

We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. And here we did not list the changes but marked in the red in revised paper.

We appreciate for Editors/Reviewers’ warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.

Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Ok for publication.