n this paper, taking the 20107 working face of Gaojialiang Coal Mine as the engineering background, with the help of the physical similar material test system and the UDEC numerical simulation program, the breaking law of the overlying rock under the mining conditions of the shallow coal seam is studied. Numerical simulation and physical test results are verified. The research results show that: with the continuous advancement of the mining face, the roof collapses directly after the layer is separated to a certain extent, and the collapsed gangue fills part of the goaf, and then the roof basically bends under the action of its own weight and overlying load. A series of processes such as subsidence, periodic breaking, gangue compaction, and final stabilization; after the mining of the working face, the "three-zone" structure of the overlying rock is basically formed; the observation results of staged water injection in the downhole vertical hole show that the overlying rock failure height is about 100m , the fracture zone is highly developed into the fine-grained sandstone layer, and the simulation results of similar materials and numerical simulations are in good agreement with the actual situation in the field.