Theoretical analysis and engineering application of controllable shock wave technology for enhancing coalbed methane in soft and low‑permeability coal seams

Coalbed methane(CBM)is a significant factor in triggering coal and gas outburst disaster,while also serving as a clean fuel.With the increasing depth of mining operations,coal seams that exhibit high levels of gas content and low permeability have become increasingly prevalent.While controllable shockwave(CSW)technology has proven effective in enhancing CBM in laboratory settings,there is a lack of reports on its field applications in soft and low-permeability coal seams.This study establishes the governing equations for stress waves induced by CSW.Laplace numerical inversion was employed to analyse the dynamic response of the coal seam during CSW antireflection.Additionally,quantitative calculations were performed for the crushed zone,fracture zone,and effective CSW influence range,which guided the selection of field test parameters.The results of the field test unveiled a substantial improvement in the gas permeability coefficient,the average rate of pure methane flowrate,and the mean gas flowrate within a 10 m radius of the antireflection borehole.These enhancements were notable,showing increases of 3 times,13.72 times,and 11.48 times,respectively.Furthermore,the field test performed on the CSW antireflection gas extraction hole cluster demonstrated a noticeable improvement in CBM extraction.After antireflection,the maximum peak gas concentration and maximum peak pure methane flow reached 71.2%and 2.59 m^(3)/min,respectively.These findings will offer valuable guidance for the application of CSW antireflection technology in soft and low-permeability coal seams.

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.

Experimental research on overlying strata movement and fracture evolution in pillarless stress-relief mining

In multiple seams mining, the seam with relatively low gas content （protective seam） is often extracted prior to mining its overlying and/or underlying seams of high gas content and low permeability to minimize the risk of high gas emission and outbursts of coal and gas. A key to success with this mining sequence is to gain a detailed understanding of the movement and fracture evolution of the overlying and underlying strata after the protective seam in extracted. In Zhuji mine, the No. 11-2 seam is extracted as a protective seam with the pillarless mining method by retaining goal-side roadways prior to its overlying No. 13-1 seam. An investigation has been undertaken in the panel 1111 （1） of Zhuji mine to physically simulate the movement and fracture evolution of the overlying strata alter the No. 1 I-2 seam is extracted. In the physical simulation, the displacement, strain, and deformation and failure process of the model for simulation were acquired with various means such as grating displacement meter, strain gauges, and digital photography. The simulation result shows that： （1） Initial caving interval of the immediate roof was 21.6 m, the first weighting interval was 23.5-37.3 m with the average interval of 33.5 m, and the periodic weighting interval of the main roof was in a range of 8.2-20.55 m and averaged at 15.2 m. （2） The maximum height of the caving zone after the extraction of No. 11-2 seam was 8.0 m, which was 4 times of the seam mining height and the internal strata of the caving zone collapsed irregularly. The mining-induced fractures developed 8-30 m above the mined No. 11-2 seam, which was 7.525 times of the seam mining height, the fracture zone was about 65° upward from the seam open-off cut toward the goaf, the height of longitudinal joint growth was 4-20 times of the mining seam height, and the height of lateral joint growth was 20-25 times of the mining seam height. （3） The ＂arch-in-arch＂ mechanical structure of the internal goaf was bounded by an expansion angle of broken strata in the lateral direction of the retained goaf-side roadway. The spatial and temporal evolution regularities of over- burden＇s displacement field and stress field, dynamic development process and distribution of fracture field were analyzed. Based on the simulation results, it is recommended that several goaf drainage methods, i.e. gas drainage with buried pipes in goaf, surface goaf gas drainage, and cross-measure boreholes, should be implemented to ensure the safe mining of the panel 1111 （1）.