Abstract: In order to explore the influence of the overlying legacy coal column on the lower coal seam working face, this paper adopts the theoretical analysis and FLAC3D numerical simulation method, combined with the physical parameters of each rock layer and coal seam. The results show that the simplified Willson yield width formula confirms that the elastic mechanics theory analyzes the stress distribution of the bottom plate under concentrated and uniform load. FLAC3D The simulation results show that when the width of the coal column increases from 35 m to 65 m, the stress of the left and right, middle and bottom plate of the coal column decreases and the stress decline gradually slows down. With the increase of the driving distance, the peak stress of the coal pillar and the working face can reach 28 MPa, which is concentrated in the range of 5 m on the left side of the coal pillar and 5 m in the front of the work. Moreover, the peak stress decreases with the increase of the driving distance, while the peak stress of the working face increases first and then decreases, and is unrelated to the width of the coal pillar.