Abstract: In order to study the mechanical behavior and influential factors of the broken structure of the key strata during the mining of the shallow buried working face. The stress problem of the key layer in the uphill section is simplified as a linear load model of the cantilever beam. The failure modes of the key layer are analyzed,and it is found that the tensile failure and shear failure are the main failure modes. Combined with range analysis and single factor sensitivity analysis,the effects of key stratum thickness,shear strength,volume force and slope angle on the collapse length of key stratum were studied.The results show that the thickness of the key stratum has the most significant effect on the collapse length,and the slope angle and shear strength also have a certain influence. The numerical simulation analysis further reveals the distribution characteristics of the stress field and plastic zone of the surrounding rock when the working face passes through the ditch,indicating that the slope has a significant effect on the stress of the surrounding rock,and the stress distribution and plastic zone of the surrounding rock show asymmetry during the process of crossing the ditch.