## 8 Conclusions  
(1) The mechanism of weakening mine pressure behavior after the fracturing of key strata is revealed. After the key strata are cracked, the separation space below the key strata is closed, and the key strata are in contact with the fallen rock mass below, transferring overburden load to the collapsed rock mass in the goat. This is the main reason why the goat stress increases and the abutment pressure decreases after the key strata are fractured, which also reasonably explains the phenomenon that the degree of strong mine pressure in the working face can be reduced after the key layer is fractured.  
(2) Numerical and physical simulations on the fracturing of key strata to weaken mine pressure are carried out. After the vertical crack fracturing of the key strata, the lead abutment pressure of the working face can be significantly reduced, and the vertical stress in the goat can be increased. Compared with the lead abutment pressure of 24.91 MPa and the goat stress of 2.61 MPa when the key strata were not fractured, the peak abutment pressure  
Figure 14: Fracturing practice and weakening effect of mine pressure appearance. (**a**) Field engineering; (**b**) comparison of mine pressure.  
was reduced to 20.60 MPa, 17.80 MPa and 16.13 MPa when the vertical crack spacing was 20 m, 15 m and 10 m, respectively. In comparison, the stress in the goaf increased to 3.54 MPa, 3.91 MPa and 4.34 MPa, respectively. At the same time, the key strata are also fractured into two horizontal layers, three horizontal layers, and four horizontal layers with horizontal fractures. The peak abutment pressure decreased from 24.79 to 22.08 MPa, 19.88 MPa, and 17.73 MPa, respectively, while the goaf stress increased from 2.61 to 3.39 MPa, 3.81 MPa and 4.43 MPa, respectively. Fracturing the key strata promotes the transfer of overlying load to the goaf, leading to the increase in goaf stress and decrease in abutment pressure, which was verified by physical simulation.  
(3) Field engineering practices for weakening mine pressure behavior through key strata fracturing are conducted. The results show that compared to the adjacent No. 8203 working face, where key strata are not fractured, the pressure of the hydraulic support in the No. 8202 working face is significantly reduced, and the intensity of mine pressure behavior is greatly alleviated, effectively ensuring the safe mining of the No.8202 working face.  
Conceptualization, Z.L. and R.G.; methodology, C.Q.; software, Z.L.; validation, Z.L., C.Q. and R.G.; formal analysis, C.Q.; investigation, Z.L.; resources, Z.L.; data curation, C.Q.; writing--original draft preparation, B.Y.; writing--review and editing, Y.Z.; visualization, C.Q.; supervision, H.Z.; project administration, J.Z.; funding acquisition, Z.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the Natural Science Research General Program for Shanxi Provincial Basic Research Program (grant number: 202303021211060), Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: U22A20169), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 52274135).  
Not applicable for studies not involving humans or animals.  
Not applicable.  
Data Availability Statement: Data are contained within the article.  
The authors thank the editor and reviewers for evaluating the article and providing valuable suggestions and guidance.  
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.