Abstract: To improve the stability of the well in the mining area of Sihe Coal Mine, it is significant to accurately investigate the failure characteristics when wells are severely destroyed. In this study, a physical experiment was carried out for simulating the coal seam excavation process. Based on these, investigating the highest possible failure periods, high-risk failure position and corresponding failure mode of surface vertical wells. The results showed that when the working faces had passed the well in the mining area of Sihe Coal Mine by more than 150 m, the wells were in the most possible failure periods. During those periods, failure positions of the wells are prone to occur at the interfaces of the hard-soft and the thick-thin-thick combined strata structures. Among these, the wells may suffer from horizontal shear at the interfaces of the hard-soft combined rock layers; and the wells in the thick-thin-thick combined rock layers may become distorted by blocking.