*Article* **Study on the Deformation Mechanisms of the Surrounding Rock and Its Supporting Technology for Large Section Whole Coal Cavern Groups**

**Linlin Chen 1, Zhiliu Wang 2,\*, Wen Wang <sup>3</sup> and Junxiang Zhang <sup>2</sup>**


**Abstract:** The control difficulty of whole coal cavern groups is greatly increased due to the characteristics of soft rock with low strength, large sections, and the mutual influence of crossed cavern groups. The large section gas storage cavern group is taken as the research background. In this paper, the equivalent circle method is used to solve the loose circle of a rectangular roadway, and numerical calculation is used to obtain the deformation and stress distribution laws of the surrounding rock under the excavation conditions of large section whole coal cavern groups (WCCG). The deformation and failure mechanisms of the surrounding rock are revealed under the linkage impact between large section whole coal cavern groups. The stratified reinforcement ring concept of "long cable-bolt-grouting" (LBG) was proposed for the stability control of surrounding rock in the WCCG. On the roof of whole coal cavern groups, the supporting configuration of a high-strength bolt with a high pre-tightening force and the high-strength anchor with a high pre-tightening force were determined. On the two sides and floor of the WCCG, the grouting scheme was determined. These two supporting configurations in both the roof and sidewalls were applied to the large section gas storage cavern group. The results show that the surrounding rock presents asymmetric deformation and failure characteristics due to the large excavation area and complex structure. Tensile failure and mixed tensile-shear failure mainly occur in the shallow part of the surrounding rock, while shear failure mainly occurs in the deep part of the surrounding rock. The roof displacement curves show a symmetric distribution and saddle distribution in the low- and high-negative pressure caverns, respectively. The maximum displacements are on the left and right sides of the cavern roof. The range of the loose rings is 3.34 m and 2.54 m, respectively, on the roof and the two ribs. The stratified reinforcement ring support technology of LBG can effectively reduce the failure depth of surrounding rock, and the surrounding rock is in a stable state. The study can provide a theoretical basis for the layout of large section cavern groups and the stability control of surrounding rock.

**Keywords:** large section; cavern groups; stratified reinforcement ring; deformation of the surrounding rock
