<p>Due to the complex mining conditions and environment in coal mines, there has been a lack of universally applicable theories for the occurrence of coalburst for a long time, which limits the assessment of coalburst risk and the safety design of prevention. In this work, a new criterion for coalburst occurrence based on the general energy principle is proposed, and rigorous theoretical derivation is conducted to prove it. Based on this, a model for roadway coalburst is established, and the formula for its occurrence is derived. The results indicate that two positive real number solutions regarding the depth of the softening zone and two critical stress values for the occurrence of coalburst can be obtained by solving the formula. Only when the depth of the softening zone is between these two positive real number solutions will roadway coalburst occur. Compared with results of elastic mechanics method, the theoretical formula for coalburst occurrence has considered the post-peak mechanical behavior of the coal rock. The burst proneness index is one of the most important parameters in determining the difficulty of coalburst occurrence. To verify the critical stress formula, a biaxial loading experiment is conducted on a coal specimen featuring a prefabricated circular hole. The results indicate that the theoretical critical stress value is 16.48&#xa0;MPa, while the experimental value is 16.37&#xa0;MPa, with an error of approximately 0.67%.</p>