Dynamic Mine disasters can be induced by the instability and failure of a composite structure of rock and coal layers during coal mining. Coal seam contains many native defects, severely affecting the instability and failure of the compound structure. In this study, the effects of coal persistent joint on the strength and failure characteristics of coal-rock composite samples were evaluated using PFC2D software. The results show that with the increase of included angle α between the loading direction and joint plane direction, the uniaxial compressive stress (UCS) and peak strain of composite samples first decrease and then gradually increase. The elastic moduli of composite samples do not change obviously with α. The peak strain at α of 45° is the lowest, and the UCS at α of 30° is the smallest. This is inconsistent with theoretical analysis of lowest UCS at α of 45°. This is because that the local stress concentration caused by the motion inconformity of composite samples may increase the average axial stress of upper wall in PFC2D software. Moreover, the coal persistent joint promotes the transformation from the unstable crack expansion to the macro-instability of composite samples, especially at α of 30° and 45°. The majority of failures for composite samples occur within the coal, and no obvious damage is observed in rock. Their failure modes are shear failure crossing or along the coal persistent joint. The failure of composite sample at α of 30° is a mixed failure, including the shear failure along the persistent joint in coal and tensile failure of rock induced by the propagation of coal persistent joint.

The objective of this investigation was to test the effectiveness of the Acoustic Emission (AE) measurements in determining the critical stresses during four-point bending of mortar beams. Within the measuring procedure the parameter σcr/σ300 was calculated and analysed. Additionally, the influence of cement replacement by high calcium fly ash (HCFA) on the process of crack healing was discussed. Mortar beams with different content of HCFA and reinforced by steel microfibres were prepared for tests. After curing in standard conditions the beams were subjected to four-point bending test in order to introduce the pre-cracking. Thereafter the beams were cured in the lime water and loaded after 56 and 112 days in the same way as for the first time. Additionally the microstructure of mortars was studied in a stereo optical microscope as well in an electron scanning microscope including the Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The results of microstructural characterization of mortar containing HCFA from lignite combustion are presented. The applied load level slightly exceeded the critical stress, producing intense crack growth processes however did not significant affected the load capacity of the beams. During the consecutive loading the decreasing tendency of σcr/σ300 ratio was noted. The obtained results confirm that the latter parameter can be applied as a measure of the composite degradation level for the elements carrying the repeated loads of amplitude close to the critical stress of the structure and also that the cement replacement with HCFA influences the process of crack healing.