###### Abstract  
In actual mining situations, the advancing speed of the working face is usually accelerated, which may affect the failure and seepage characteristics of gas-bearing coal, and may even induce dynamic disasters. In order to discover the effects of such accelerated advancement of the working face, an experimental study on the failure and seepage characteristics of gas-bearing coal under accelerated loading and unloading conditions was carried out in this work. The results showed that the energy release was more violent and impactful under accelerated loading and unloading paths. The time required for the failure of the sample was significantly shortened. After being destroyed, the breakup of the sample was more severe, and the magnitude of the permeability was greater. Accordingly, the acceleration of the loading and unloading had significant control effects on the failure and permeability of coal and it showed a significant danger of inducing coal and gas dynamic disasters. Meanwhile, the degree of influence of the acceleration on the coal decreased with an increase in the gas pressure and increased significantly with an increase in the initial confining pressure. It was found that for a deep high-gas mine, the accelerated advancement of the working face under a high in situ stress condition would greatly increase the risk of coal and gas dynamic disasters. Then, the permeability evolution model of gas-bearing coal in consideration of changes in the loading and unloading rates was theoretically established in this work, and this permeability model was validated by experimental data. The permeability model was found to be relatively reasonable. In summary, the effects of accelerated loading and unloading on the failure and seepage characteristics of gas-bearing coal were obtained through a combination of experimental and theoretical studies, and the intrinsic relationship between the accelerated advancement of the working face and the occurrence of coal and gas dynamic disasters was discovered in this work. **Keywords:** gas-bearing coal; accelerated loading and unloading; failure; permeability; coal and gas dynamic disasters +
Footnote †: journal: Applied Softhigh crustal stress, and low gas permeability have become increasingly prominent. Coal and gas dynamic disasters occur frequently [3; 4; 5; 6]. Under mining conditions, the stress field, fracture field, and seepage field of the coal in front of the working face are subject to change [7; 8; 9]. Coal and gas dynamic disasters are the result of the sudden failure of coal under the coupling effects of multiple fields, and can be extremely destructive. The failure and permeability of coal under different mining conditions can be studied using mechanical and seepage experiments under different loading and unloading conditions. The mechanical properties and permeability evolution of coal have been studied by numerous researchers. The effects of the gas type, gas pressure, confining pressure, temperature, and other factors on the strength and permeability of coal have been studied by some researchers [10; 11; 12; 13]. Furthermore, some scholars have studied the mechanical and seepage characteristics of coal under different stress paths. The change laws for the main mechanical parameters such as the friction angle, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratio, along with the confining pressure, have been obtained in triaxial loading experiments [14]. These showed that the effective compressive strength increases with the confining pressure, and the permeability of coal varies greatly under simulated in situ stress conditions. The permeability change rules of gas-saturated coal under different conditions have also been studied [15]. Experiments have shown that the permeability decreases with an increase in the effective stress.