Abstract: The shallow coal seam goaf is easy to cause surface subsidence due to its shallow burial, which would impact on people’s production and life seriously. The direct current（DC）detection method is an effective method to find out the distribution of shallow coal seam goaf. It could be guide field production effectively and improve detection accuracy to study the electrical response characteristics of the shallow coal seam goaf to DC.The detection theory of DC method is the basis of research. The flume simulation experiment is the means of research. The inflatable high-resistance goaf and the low-resistance goaf are simulated by different mediums. The geoelectric model of shallow coal seam goaf is established according to the similar criteria. The geoelectric field response of the shallow coal seam goaf under the DC Winner device, Schlumberger device and unilateral tripole devices was studied by the flume simulation experiment. And also, the research compared and analyzed the response characteristics of high-resistance and low-resistance goaf under different DC devices through various maps.The simulation experiment shows that the shallow coal seam goaf has obvious electrical property difference on different devices of DC method; Both the quadrupole sounding and the tripole sounding could reflect the position of high-resistance and low-resistance mined anomaly on the plane; The Winner device has good response to both high and low resistance goaf, and the vertical resolution of that is high; The Schlumberger device will decrease in resolution as the depth of detection increases; The unilateral tripole device is most sensitive to the occurrence of goaf anomalies, but less accuracy on the position of the anomaly.