Influence of Water Injection Fracturing on Crack Damage in Soft Coal and Application in Gas Extraction

In order to study the hypotonic and rheological particularity of “three soft” coal seam in west Henan, China, this paper explored the stress and damage characteristics of crack in coal under condition of water injection fracturing based on ABAQUS platform;The cohesive element in T-P damage evolution criterion was used to describe the approximately linear relationship between crack width and extending distance in soft coal. The simulation results show that stress evolution and crack damage in soft coal is a gradually developing process under condition of water injection fracturing. When the static pressure is 4 - 10 MPa, and the injection time is about 1 - 2 hours, the damage range of crack in soft coal can basically reach an ideal data of 80 - 100 m, and then greatly improve the hypotonic performance of “three soft” coal seam.

Effect of damage zone around borehole on carbon dioxide injection promoted gas extraction in soft and low-permeability coal seam

Injecting external CO_(2) into soft and low-permeability coal seams can improve CH4 extacctinn efficiency, and also benefit in CO_(2) sequestration. However, the distribution law of damage zone around borehole in soft coal seam and its effect on the efficiency of CO_(2) injection promoted CH4 extraction are not clear. In this paper, a multi-physics coupling mathematical model considering damage effect is established for simulating the process of CO_(2) injection promoted CH4 extraction in soft and low-permeability coal seam. The distribution of damage zone and permeability around boreholes under different diameters and coal strengths are analyzed. The gas pressure and gas content in coal seam during CO_(2) injection promoted CH4 extraction when the model considered damage effect are compared with that of ignored. The results show that small borehole diameter corresponds to narrow damage zone around the borehole in coal seam. The damage zone expands with the increase of the borehole diameter. The damage zone increases exponentially with the borehole diameter, while decreases exponentially with the compressive strength of coal seam. The highest permeability in the damage zone has increased by nearly 300 times under the condition of simulated case. CH4 pressure around the extraction borehole reduces, and the reduction area expands with the increase of time. Compared with the result of considering the damage effect, the reduction area of ignoring it is smaller, and the reducing speed is slower. The integrated effect of CO_(2) injection and CH4 extraction leads to rapid decrease of CH4 content in coal seam near the boreholes. The CO_(2) pressure and content increase around the injection borehole, and the increasing area gradually extends to the whole coal seam. In soft coal seams, failure to consider the damage effect will underestimate the efficiency of CH4 extraction and CO_(2) sequestration, resulting conservative layout of boreholes.

Hydraulic drill hole reaming technology with large flow and draining of coal mine gas

This paper takes Zhaozhuang mine in Shanxi province as an example to study the technology of hydraulic reaming drill hole for improving the gas extraction.The influence of the physical properties of coal seam on the hydraulic reaming drill holes and the draining of coal mine gas were analyzed and discussed for different coal structure areas,and the following conclusions were made.Hydraulic drill hole reaming has had a positive impact in Zhaozhuang Mine,and can improve the efficiency of gas extraction to different degrees.The water jet pressure used in hydraulic drill hole reaming mainly depends on the structure of the coal.When the coal seam basically becomes integrated,the critical water jet pressure increases,the discharge becomes relatively easy to achieve,the blocking effect on the gas extraction decreases,and the gas extraction significantly increases after the reaming process.When the coal seam is broken,the critical water jet pressure decreases,the discharge becomes difficult to achieve,the blocking effect on the gas extraction becomes obvious,and the gas extraction changes slightly after reaming.

Progress on the hydraulic measures for grid slotting and fracking to enhance coal seam permeability

A method of hydraulic grid slotting and hydraulic fracturing was proposed to enhance the permeability of low permeability coal seam in China. Micro-structural development and strength characteristics of coal were analysed to set up the failure criterion of coal containing water and gas, which could describe the destruction rule of coal containing gas under the hydraulic measures more accurately. Based on the theory of transient flow and fluid grid, the numerical calculation model of turbulence formed by high pressure oscillating water jet was used. With the high speed photography test, dynamic evolution and pulsation characteristics of water jet water analysed which laid a foundation for mechanism analysis of rock damage under water jet. Wave equation of oscillating water jet slotting was established and the mechanism of coal damage by the impact stress wave under oscillation jet was revealed. These provide a new method to study the mechanism of porosity and crack damage under high pressure jet.Fracture criterion by jet slotting was established and mechanism of crack development controlled by crack zone between slots was found. The fractures were induced to extend along pre-set direction,instead of being controlled by original stress field. The model of gas migration through coal seams after the hydraulic measures for grid slotting and fracking was established. The key technology and equipment for grid slotting and fracking with high-pressure oscillating jet were developed and applied to coal mines in Chongqing and Henan in China. The results show that the gas permeability of coal seam is enhanced by three orders of magnitude, efficiency of roadway excavation and mining is improved by more than 57%and the cost of gas control is reduced by 50%.