Abstract: According to the rock failure damage theories and gas-solid coupling method, the RFPA^2D-GasFlow soft code in combination with the stress distribution in coal body and process and the result of gas outburst was applied to the analysis of the effect of ground stress on gas outburst process. The results showed that the ground stress will obstruct the gas outburst if it is lower than 1 MPa. However, when it is higher than 1 MPa, the horizontal compression stress will enhance the resistance to the failure of coal body and, additionally, the shear stress will stimulate the failure of coal body. Then, the results were used to analyze the gas outburst in shallowly buried coal bed. It was found that the ground stress acted on the shallowly buried coal bed is relatively small, and the horizontal and vertical tensile stresses in coal bed are both of great extension-these are just the reasons why the gas outburst occurs in such coal bed and why the gas outbursts thus evoked are mainly of extra-serious type.