To clarify the evolution of physical fields in fault zones and reveal the mechanisms of fault slip instability under mining disturbance, the coal pillar area of the main roadway in Tangshan Mine was selected as the engineering background. An integrated approach combining physical similarity simulation, numerical simulation, and theoretical analysis was employed to investigate the stress‑energy evolution of faults and their progressive‑cascading slip characteristics under mining disturbance. The results show that the abutment pressure in the overlying strata evolves through four stages, namely rapid increase, abrupt decrease, slow increase, and stabilization, and reaches peak values immediately before and after fault breakthrough. The shear stress on the fault plane undergoes a process of increase, fluctuation, and decrease, with a sudden drop in the intermediate stage due to unloading induced by overburden collapse and with evident stick-slip behavior, followed by gradual attenuation during continued slip. The fault barrier effect causes stress concentration in the hanging wall and a weak, delayed response in the footwall. Acoustic emission events and energy release exhibit two pronounced surges, corresponding respectively to hanging-wall stick–slip deformation after fault breakthrough and stratal dislocation induced by the expansion of fault slip space after mining across the fault. Energy is released instantaneously during fault breakthrough and then re-accumulates after crossing the fault, showing delayed propagation as the distance between the monitoring point and the working face increases. The fault slip tendency index peaks before mining across the fault and then decreases sharply, indicating slip initiation and the transition from local activation to overall instability. Fault slip is characterized by lower-part initiation, middle-part transmission, and upper-part linkage, with fracture coalescence forming a slip body that ultimately triggers global instability and collapse. Theoretical analysis indicates that local fault slip causes non-uniform shear stress transfer and may induce cascading slip in adjacent zones. In summary, stress concentration near the fault facilitates energy accumulation, whereas abrupt energy release drives fault slip instability. The findings provide a theoretical basis for predicting dynamic disasters in fault zones and for formulating differentiated prevention and control measures.
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