Abstract: The non-pillar mining technology with automatically forming roadway by roof cutting and pressure relief and is a new economic and effective non-coal pillar mining technology.Current research on key parameters of this technology normally adopts the numerical simulation based on continuous mechanics theory，and it is difficult to achieve the physical simulation of roof abscission and collapse.The three-dimensional discrete element software is applied to investigate the roadway formed by roof cutting and pressure releasing in the shallow-buried coal seams.More detailed researches on the stress field and deformation law of overlying roof strata in mined-out area with different cutting height are made.The results show that:the discrete element method can effectively simulate the stress field evolution process of overburden layer，the displacement of blocks and the rock falling；Different roof pre-splitting cutting height has different influence on smoothly cutting roof into roadway.Cutting should effectively cut off the stress transfer between roof and the entry retaining roof in the mined-out area.This study has certain reference for analyzing the roadway parameters formed by roof cutting and pressure releasing.

Key words: Shallow coal seam, Roof cutting and pressure relief, Automatic roadway formation, Advanced pre-splitting, Numerical simulation