A longwall panel is to be developed in a flat seam at a depth of \( H \) m. The surface subsidence profile (\( s \)) of the area with the horizontal distance \( x \) is estimated as
\[
s = \frac{S_{{max}}}{2} \left[ 1.002 - \tanh \left( \frac{4.8x}{H} \right) \right],
\]
where \( S_{{max}} \) is the maximum subsidence at the centre of the panel, \( x \) is measured from the inflection point. The value of \( x \) is negative towards the panel centre and positive towards the panel boundary.
The ratio between the critical width of the panel and the depth is: