Abstract: This study addresses the challenge of selecting coal caving methods (CCM) in complex structures and extrathick coal seams,particularly in bifurcation and merging areas. The objective is to enhance the economic benefits of longwall top coal caving (LTCC) working faces. To achieve this,the study employs borehole detection of top coal thickness,GDEM numerical simulation analysis,and on-site measurement of LTCC mining indicators. Two geological models representing coal seam occurrence in bifurcation and merging areas are established,along with a numerical model of particle dynamics to measure the recovery rate of top coal using different CCM. The findings indicate that while the difference in gangue content among various CCM is minimal,the disparity in top coal recovery rate is substantial.When the top coal thickness is below 5 m,single-round coal caving with one-support intervals yields the best results,achieving a top coal recovery rate of 63.5%,which is 2.2% higher than the other two CCM methods. Conversely,for top coal thicknesses exceeding 5 m,the optimal approach is multi-round sequential coal caving,resulting in a top coal recovery rate of 74.9%,which is 5.0% and 1.4% higher compared to the other two methods. Field tests corroborate these findings,showing a 7% higher top coal recovery rate for multi-round sequential coal caving compared to multi-round coal caving at intervals. The results obtained from numerical simulations and engineering tests exhibit good agreement. The optimized coal caving method improves top coal recovery rates and provides an optimization model for future fully mechanized caving working faces and surrounding mines at Shaping Coal Mine.