Abstract: To study the fracture development characteristics of weakly cemented soft rock roadway roof under the influence of roof water, taking the 110301 tunneling face of a mine in the west region as the background, radar detection was adopted and the fracture development of the roof was measured and analyzed. On this basis, tests were carried out to analyze the water absorption, water weakening intensity and damage of the roof rock mass, and the fracture development process was reversed through numerical simulation. The results show that the vertical fracture development height of the roof overlying rock can reach 10.5 m, and the fractures are concentrated within a shallow range of 2 m; the mechanical parameters of the roof rock mass are negatively correlated with the moisture content; the acoustic emission ringing number of the rock mass is more active at a low moisture content, and the increase in moisture content leads to the loss of most acoustic emission signals, and the cumulative acoustic emission ringing number shows an increasing- decreasing-increasing trend with the moisture content; the vertical displacement of the roof changes with variable acceleration as the moisture content of the rock mass increases; when the moisture content is low, the vertical deep rock mass prevents the upward development of shallow fractures and suppresses deformation; when the water content gradually increases and approaches saturation, the plastic development of the rock mass turns rheological, the vertical fractures increase sharply and the deformation intensifies, thereby leading to the instability of the roof.