The Application of Fuzzy Mathematics in the Optimization of the Recipe of Filling Paste for Coal Mine Backfill
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In this article, the authors studied The application of fuzzy mathematics in the influence factors of coal mine paste filling material performance. The article could be acceptable for publication, but it needs some revisions to help the authors and ensure the quality of the published papers in this journal.
1 - I believe that the introduction needs to be improved; it is too brief and does not integrate the statement of the problem with the actual needs of the area. Make use of more references from the literature to demonstrate the difference between your work and the counterpoints.
2 - What criteria were used to select the particle size? What sieving meshes were used if it was sieved?
3 - What methods did the authors use to determine the chemical composition of coal gang and Portland cement? Provide a description of the experiment, if it was not an experiment, provide a reference to both.
4 - What is the source of the parameters in Table 1? Please provide a reference! The caption of Table 1 should provide information, even if this information has already been provided in the text. Please include references for Tables 2-4 as well.
5 - It does not make sense to have a ratio between coal gangue and coal gangue in Table 5, since they are the same. Table 5's caption needs to be improved. Is there any particular reason why the paste ratios described in Table 5 were chosen by the authors?
6 - Could you please provide the curing time of the pastes obtained? Can you tell me what the curing temperature was?
7 - Is there a reason why the authors did not perform a morphological analysis using SEM to assess the morphology of the cementitious matrix after curing with coal gangues?
8 - In the experimental part of the work, there are a lot of results, such as mechanical properties, which are confusing and disorganized.
9 - Both Figure 1 and Table 6 describe the same behavior, so having them together makes no sense. You must choose one of the two options. Table 7 and figure 2 exhibit the same problem. Meaningless. There is a lack of discussion of mechanical properties.
10 - Figure precision should be improved across the board. Please increase the font size of the legends for the magnitudes in the order (y-axis) and abscissa (x-axis).
11 - What impact will the addition of cement and gypsum have on the fluidity of the paste? Provide an explanation.
12 - According to the authors, the verb “be” has been used in the future tense, which implies that the analyses will be conducted or that the results will be influenced by the addition of the coal gang. No, that is not correct. Analyses have already been conducted, and the effect of adding coal gang to the paste has been examined. Example: “With the increase of content of cementitious materials (cement and gypsum), the fluidity of the paste will be affected” and “The promotion effect of fly ash on cementitious materials will be limited, which is the main reason for its failure to improve the strength index of slurry”.
13 - I think the authors should use more references when discussing their results, since this would help establish the credibility of their work. Please, compare your findings with the existing literature. Finally, I suggest major revision of the manuscript to eliminate some errors and typos.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer:
Thank you for your letter and the reviewer's comments on our topic "Application of Fuzzy Mathematics to Factors Affecting the Performance of Coal Paste Fillers" (applsci-2258928). These opinions are valuable for the revision and improvement of our thesis and have important guiding significance for our research. We have carefully studied the comments and made corrections, hoping for approval.
The author would like to thank the reviewers for their comments. We have carefully studied these comments and fully addressed them in the revised manuscript. The modified section is marked in the section using the "Track Changes" function. Please refer to the attachment for our response to each comment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
In this paper, the authors presented the application of fuzzy mathematics in the influence factors of coal mine paste filling material performance. The results showed that cement had a great influence while the fly ash had little effect on the working performance of paste. Besides, appropriate use of additives improved the working performance of paste. These results provided an important reference for the mechanical properties of coal mine paste materials. The fuzzy mathematics evaluation method was used to establish the evaluation vector and weight determination, and the fuzzy optimization was carried out to find the best filling scheme
The results are marginally interesting and the proofs are correct. A major revision is needed considering the following:
1. In the abstract, elaborate more clearly what the original contributions of this manuscript are.
2. What are the limitations of the proposed mathematical model?
3. Discuss the existing research gaps and how the current research fills these gaps.
4. Mention the software that has been used in simulation/generation of figures and graphs.
5. Update the following relevant references: [Pattern Recognition Letters, 26 (13), 2005, 2063-2069; Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems 34 (1), 361-372, 2018].
Author Response
Dear Reviewer:
Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript entitled “The application of fuzzy mathematics in the influence factors of coal mine paste filling material performance” (applsci-2258928). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval.
The authors would like to thank the reviewer for the comments. We have carefully studied these comments and they are fully addressed in the revised manuscript. The revised manuscript is marked in the manuscript using " Track Changes” function. Please refer to the attachment for our response to each comment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The topic of this paper is the application of fuzzy mathematics in the influence factors of coal mine paste-filling material.
This article is in line with the theme of this journal. The authors have done a lot of valuable work on this paper. However, in my opinion, the quality of this paper is not meeting the requirements for publication.
Firstly, the English of this paper is unprofessional.
In addition, the article lacks innovation, either in terms of topic or experiment.
I suggest rejecting the manuscript.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer:
Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript entitled “The application of fuzzy mathematics in the influence factors of coal mine paste filling material performance” (applsci-2258928). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval.
The authors would like to thank the reviewer for the comments. We have carefully studied these comments and they are fully addressed in the revised manuscript. The revised manuscript is marked in the manuscript using " Track Changes” function. Please refer to the attachment for our response to each comment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
After the authors corrected and improved the manuscript, I am in favor of its publication.
Reviewer 2 Report
Satisfied with the revision.
