Abstract: In order to determine the range of the stress concentration area in the bottom roadway under the influence of the upper coal pillar and to reveal the pressure-bearing behavior and failure characteristics of the surrounding rock, taking the close distance coal seams 15^# and 16^# in Lingxin Mine as the research objects, the “principal stress difference” was introduced instead of the traditional “vertical stress” as the evaluation index for the pressure-bearing characteristics of the coal and rock mass. This research was carried out using methods such as the “half-plane body theory” and FLAC^3D numerical simulation. The results show that the difference curves of the principal stresses at different burial depths of the 15^# coal seam bottom plate have a unique envelope line, based on the “mutation point” of the principal stress difference curve of the 16^# coal seam roof, it is inferred that the range of this stress concentration area is approximately 45 meters; after the 15^# coal was mined, the distribution of the principal stress difference in the shallow surrounding rock of the 35 m boundary coal pillar floor showed a “double-peak” pattern, as the burial depth increased, the principal stress difference began to change from a “double-peak” pattern to a “single-peak” pattern; based on the distribution of the main stress difference of the surrounding rock in the roadway under different widths of the coal pillar, combined with the particularity of the roadway section, the analysis indicated that although an elastic core zone of a certain width can be formed under the 20-meter coal pillar support condition, the roof rock still shows significant asymmetric stress and failure characteristics.