Abstract:
Roadway tunneling capacity directly affects mining-development continuity and production capacity planning in large-scale coal mines. Existing studies on rapid roadway tunneling have predominantly focused on individual processes, specific items of equipment, or efficiency improvements at individual working faces. However, systematic research into the coordinated relationship among roadway development demand, excavation ability of the system, and the assurance of mining-development continuity across groups of coal mines with annual production capacities of ten million tonnes or more remains limited. Taking 14 mines operated by CHN Energy Shendong Coal Group as the engineering study objects, this study draws on complete annual production statistics for 2024-2025, stage data from the first quarter of 2026, and engineering practices at representative working faces. From the dual perspectives of demand-side reduction and supply-side efficiency improvement, a five-dimensional collaborative technology system comprising design optimisation, process innovation, equipment upgrading, technical potential exploitation, and management assurance is established. The mechanisms through which these measures contribute to improved roadway development performance are characterised using tunnel ratio per 10,000 tonnes of coal production, the plan fulfilment assurance coefficient, cycle time, and system-equivalent advance capacity. The results show that total tunneling footage increased from 338,080 m in 2024 to 415,111 m in 2025, representing an increase of 22.8%. The average monthly advance per development team for bolter miners, continuous miners, and roadheaders increased from 607.2, 935.2, and 169.6 m/month to 682.8, 1,051.0, and 174.1 m/month, respectively, corresponding to increases of 12.5%, 12.4%, and 2.7%. Tunneling ratio per 10,000 tonnes of coal production decreased by 5.2%, from 19.3 to 18.3 m per 10,000 t. In the first quarter of 2026, the average monthly advance per team for the three development methods further increased to 687.3, 1,127.6, and 177.7 m/month, respectively, indicating that the effectiveness of the technology system was sustained during the subsequent operational period. This study establishes a quantitative explanatory framework based on demand reduction-cycle compression-bottleneck coordination-plan assurance, providing an engineering basis for the optimisation of rapid tunneling systems in large-scale coal mines characterised by near-horizontal and geologically stable coal seams.