biostudies-literatureShi ZShaanxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation31456https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11682402biostudies-literatureUnknown14(1)Affected by weakening effect of water in the goaf, the bearing capacity of coal pillar reduced, and coal pillar rock burst is prone to occur, which is a serious threat to mine safety in production. In order to study the equivalent width and stability of coal pillar in water-rich coal seam, taking the section coal pillar of a working face as the research object, combined with laboratory test, theoretical analysis, simulation and engineering practice, the stress, elastic core area width, damage degree and energy accumulation of 36 m water-immersed coal pillar and 26 m, 28 m, 30 m, 32 m, 36 m unimmersed coal pillars are analyzed. The research results show that: (1) The reasonable width of coal pillar under flooded and unflooded conditions is 36.09 m and 29.58 m, respectively. The width has beScientific reportsResearch on water immersion damage characteristics and equivalent width of coal pillar.PMC116824022024JC-YBMS-261Zi ZZhu GShi ZfalseResearch on water immersion damage characteristics and equivalent width of coal pillar.Affected by weakening effect of water in the goaf, the bearing capacity of coal pillar reduced, and coal pillar rock burst is prone to occur, which is a serious threat to mine safety in production. In order to study the equivalent width and stability of coal pillar in water-rich coal seam, taking the section coal pillar of a working face as the research object, combined with laboratory test, theoretical analysis, simulation and engineering practice, the stress, elastic core area width, damage degree and energy accumulation of 36 m water-immersed coal pillar and 26 m, 28 m, 30 m, 32 m, 36 m unimmersed coal pillars are analyzed. The research results show that: (1) The reasonable width of coal pillar under flooded and unflooded conditions is 36.09 m and 29.58 m, respectively. The width has be2024-01-01T00:00:00Z2024 Dec2025-04-21T16:35:15.787Z2025-04-21T16:35:15.787ZS-EPMC116824023973296910.1038/s41598-024-83322-6