To investigate the characteristics of fracture development and stress distribution during coal seam mining beneath thick overlying loose layers, the 12605 working face at Yan’an Hongshiyan Coal Mine was selected as the research subject. By integrating similar material simulation experiments with numerical modeling, the evolution of overburden fractures and associated stress distribution patterns under such geological conditions were systematically examined. Fractal theory was further applied to enable quantitative characterization of fracture development across different zones, enhancing the objectivity and precision of the analysis. The results demonstrate as following. In physical simulations, the fractal dimension of overburden fractures evolves progressively with working face advancement, clearly exhibiting three distinct stages including dimensional increase, fractal fluctuation, and dimensional stabilization, each corresponding to a specific fracture development mechanism. Quantitative statistical analysis reveals a strong positive correlation between fracture proportion and fractal dimension across zones. The caving zone exhibits the highest fracture density, reaching 27.07%, while the boundary regions on both sides of the working face display the lowest, accounting for only 23.54% of the total boundary area, indicating less intense fracturing in these peripheral zones. During mining, vertical fractures exhibit high connectivity within the caving zone and along lateral boundaries but are effectively confined below the loose layer. Bed-parallel fractures undergo premature closure under the compressive load of the thick overlying strata, which significantly inhibits upward fracture propagation. The maximum height of the caving zone is measured at 10 m, yielding a caving ratio of 4.3. The water-conducting fracture zone reaches a maximum height of 65 m, resulting in a fractured mining ratio of 28.26. The development patterns are generally consistent with the measured results. Based on 3DEC and simulating coal seam mining according to actual mining conditions, it can be seen that as the working face continues to advance, the plastic zone of the overlying rock gradually expands, and the stress relief zone also increases and expands upward, but does not extend into the loose layer. The maximum development height of the water conducting fracture zone is 70 meters; the stress distribution pattern is consistent with that of similar material tests.