Stress-unloading and gas migration improvement mechanism in the soft and hard interbedded coal seam using directional hydraulic flushing technology

To enhance gas drainage in the soft and hard interbedded(SHI)coal seam,it’s necessary to unload the insitu stress and improve its gas migration performance.In this research,a directional hydraulic flushing(DHF)technology was carried out.The stress-unloading and gas migration improvement mechanism was analyzed through numerical simulation,and systematic engineering tests were conducted to verify the gas drainage effect.The results show that the improvement of gas migration performance in the SHI coal seam is caused by a combined effect of seepage-improving and diffusion-improving.After DHF,stress-unloading and plastic failure could be achieved both in the soft coal(SC)sublayer and in the hard coal(HC)sublayer.However,the gas diffusion capacity improves significantly in the SC sublayer,while the gas seepage capacity improves notably in the HC sublayer.Meanwhile,the stress-unloading and gas migration improvement effect improves with the flushing radius and the thickness of the SC sublayer.Besides,after adopting the DHF technology,the gas drainage effect improved markedly.The borehole number dropped by 49%,the gas drainage ratio increased from 26.0%to 48.2%,and the average coal roadway excavation speed increased from 2.4 to 5.6 m/d.

Rockburst mechanism and the law of energy accumulation and release in mining roadway: a case study

The rockburst dynamic disasters in the process of deep coal mining become more and more serious.Taking the rockburst occurred in the 23130 working face of Yuejin Coal Mine as the engineering background,we study the characteristics of mining stress feld around roadway,the plastic failure morphological characteristics of surrounding rock and the accumulation/release law of elastic energy before and after burst.An analysis model quantitatively describing the physical process of rockburst in the mining roadway is established,and the calculation method of dynamic release of elastic energy in the physical process of rockburst is educed.The mechanism of rockburst in mining roadway is revealed.The results show that an“L-shaped”stress concentration zone is formed within 100 m of the 23130 working face,and the principal stress ratio of the surrounding rock of the transportation roadway is 2.59–4.26.The change of the direction of the maximum principal stress has a signifcant efect on the burst appearance characteristics.The failure strength of diferent sections of the mining roadway is characterized by the elastic energy release value.With the increase of the working face distance,the elastic energy released by burst failure and the expansion variation of failure boundary radius show a nonlinear variation law that tends to decrease steadily after sharp fuctuation.The closer to the working face,the higher the burst risk.At a distance of 10 m from the working surface,the maximum principal stress reaches its maximum value.The butterfy-shaped failure system generated by the surrounding rock of the roadway has energy self-sustainability,and the elastic energy released by the sudden expansion of the butterfy leaf is enough to cause a burst damage of 1.9 magnitude.This work could provide theoretical support for the prediction and prevention of rockburst.