Characteristics of Acoustic Emission Waveforms Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing of Coal under True Triaxial Stress in a Laboratory-Scale Experiment

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) is an effective technology to prevent and control coal dynamic disaster. The process of coal hydraulic fracturing (HF) induces a large number of microseismic/acoustic emission (MS/AE) waveforms. Understanding the characteristic of AE waveforms’ parameters is essential for evaluating the fracturing effect and optimizing the HF strategy in coal formation. In this study, laboratory hydraulic fracturing under true triaxial stress was performed on a cubic coal sample combined with AE monitoring. The injection pressure curve and temporal variation of AE waveforms’ parameters in different stages were analyzed in detail. The experimental results show that the characteristics of the AE waveforms’ parameters well reflect the HF growth behavior in coal. The majority of AE waveforms’ dominant frequency is distributed between 145 and 160 kHz during HF. The sharp decrease of the injection pressure curve and the sharp increase of the AE waveforms’ amplitude show that the fracture already runs through the coal sample during the initial fracture stage. The “trapezoidal” rise pattern of cumulative energy and most AE waveforms with low amplitude may indicate the stage of liquid storage space expansion. The largest proportion of AE waveforms’ energy and higher overall level of AE waveforms’ amplitude occur during the secondary fracture stage, which indicates the most severe degree of coal fracture and complex activity of internal fracture. The phenomenon shows the difference in fracture mechanism between the initial and secondary fracture stage. We propose a window-number index of AE waveforms for better response to hydraulic fracture, which can improve the accuracy of the HF process division.

Characteristics of gas pressure change during the freezing process of gas-containing coal

To investigate the characteristics of gas pressure changes during the freezing of gas-containing composite coal, an experimental device for determining the freezing response characteristics of gas-containing coal was independently designed. Coal samples with different firmness coefficients from the No. 3 coal seam in Yuxi Coal Mine in Jincheng, Shanxi Province, were selected to determine the different freezing response characteristics. The gas pressure evolved under different temperatures (-10 °C-15 °C-20 °C-25 °C-30 °C) and different adsorption equilibrium pressures (1.0 MPa, 1.5 MPa, 2.0 MPa). The research results reveal that, during the freezing process of the gas-containing coal sample, the gas pressure in the coal sample tank changed as a monotonously decreasing function and underwent three stages: rapid decline, decline, and slow decline. The relationship between the gas pressure of the coal sample tank and the freezing time is described by a power function. Low temperatures promoted gas adsorption. As the freezing temperature decreased, the decrease of gas pressure in the coal sample tank became faster. During the freezing process, the adsorption capacity of soft coal was larger, and the gas pressure of soft coal was lower.

Study on the Physical Properties and Joint Evolution Characteristics of Three-Dimensional Reconstructed Coal

There are various complex joints (fissures), laminae, and other soft structural surfaces in the roadway enclosure, and the existence of these soft structural surfaces seriously affects the stability of the roadway enclosure. In order to study the mechanical properties of the coal body and the development of joints during coal fracture, this paper establishes a three-dimensional model of the fracture structure of the coal body based on CT scanning and three-dimensional reconstruction technology. On this basis, a 3D numerical model of the equivalent nodal coal body is constructed, uniaxial compression simulation analysis is performed, and the joint evolution development law of the coal sample is studied by the built-in joint monitoring program of PFC3D. The results show that the larger the effective joint area and larger the joint size inside the coal sample, the smaller the compressive strength of the coal sample. The increase of joint size and joint surface area increased the ductility and stress-strain curve multipeak phenomenon of the coal sample to some extent. During the rupture of the coal sample, the changes of each phase of the statistical curve of joint number and the phases of the stress-strain curve of the coal sample are compatible.

Deformation Mechanism of the Coal ahead of Fully Mechanized Caving Face under High-Intensity Mining Condition

In order to study the coal deformation and failure mechanism in fully mechanized caving face under the high-intensity mining, based on the equivalent mechanical model of transversely isotropic cylindrical coal with fractures, the equivalent equations for axial, radial, and volume strains of coal sample loaded in linear elastic and plastic stages were derived in this paper. The equivalent mechanical model shows good reliability through the conventional triaxial experiment. Taking the N1206 workface in Yuwu coal mine of Luan group as the example, we have simulated the stress concentration factor of the coal body ahead of the working face with FLAC and divided three regions according to stress distribution in coal mining. Mathematical equations were derived to express the horizontal and vertical stress, which provide theoretical guidance of the stress paths in triaxial experiment about real mining stress environment simulation. Experimental results show that the volume strain’s value is about 0.4% in the coal mass deformation progress of axial compression increasing slowly area. In axial compression increasing rapidly area, the volume strain’s value varies from 0.41% to 0.27%, and the radical strain changes from compression deformation to expansion deformation gradually. The volume strain of coal sample increases sharply in axial compression releasing rapidly area; meanwhile, there are good linear relationships between Poisson’s ratio and axial strain and radial strain.

Desorption and Transport of Temperature-Pressure Effect on Adsorbed Gas in Coal Samples from Zhangxiaolou Mine, China

The development of coal seam fissures and gas migration process caused by mining disturbance has an extremely important influence on gas control and roadway stability. In this study, the desorption, diffusion, and migration tests of adsorbed gas under the coupling effect of temperature and uniaxial compression were conducted on four coal samples from Zhangxiaolou mine, using the temperature and pressure coupling test system of deep coal rocks. The test confirms that the higher the temperature, the faster the desorption and emission of the adsorbed gases in the coal, and the larger the volume of the emitted gases. Meanwhile, it is found that the adsorbed gases in the coal samples of Zhangxiaolou mine are carbon dioxide and methane in the order of content. It is found that during the uniaxial compression process, several large negative values of the pressure of the emitted gas occur during the stable growth stage of the crack. This indicates that the crack expansion makes a new negative pressure space inside the coal sample, and the negative pressure values increase continuously during the unstable growth phase of the crack until the coal sample is destroyed. And after the axial pressure is removed, the escaped gas pressure shows a large positive value due to the rebound of the coal matrix and the continuous desorption of a large amount of adsorbed gas from the new crack location, which has a significant hysteresis with respect to the occurrence of the peak stress. Meanwhile, the SEM images of the coal samples before and after the test are analyzed to confirm the cause of the negative pressure generation.

Research On Water-Immersion Softening Mechanism of Coal Rock Mass Based on Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar Experiment

The coal mining process is affected by multiple sources of water such as groundwater and coal seam water injection. Understanding the dynamic mechanical parameters of water-immersed coal is helpful to the safe production of coal mines. The impact compression tests were performed on coal with different moisture contents by using the ϕ50 mm Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) experimental system, and the dynamic characteristics and energy loss laws of water-immersed coal with different compositions and water contents were analyzed. Through analysis and discussion, it is found that: (1) When the moisture content of the coal sample is 0%, 30%, 60%, the stress, strain rate and energy first increase and then decrease with time; (2) When the moisture content of the coal sample increases from 30% to 60%, the stress "plateau" of the coal sample disappears, resulting in an increase in the interval of the compressive stress and a decrease in the interval of the expansion stress. (3) The increase of the moisture content of the coal sample will affect its impact deformation and failure mode. When the moisture content is 60%, the incident rod end and the transmission rod end of the coal sample will have obvious compression failure, and the middle part of the coal sample will also experience expansion and deformation. (4) The coal composition ratio suitable for the impact experiment of coal immersion softening is optimized.

Laboratory Study of Deformational Characteristics and Acoustic Emission Properties of Coal with Different Strengths under Uniaxial Compression

Acoustic emission (AE) can reflect the dynamic changes in a material’s structure, and it has been widely used in studies regarding coal mechanics, such as those focusing on the influence of loading rate or water content change on the mechanical properties of coal. However, the deformational behavior of coals with various strengths differs due to the variation in microstructure. Hard coal presents brittleness, which is closely related to certain kinds of geological disasters such as coal bursts; soft coal exhibits soft rock properties and large deformation mechanical characteristics. Therefore, conclusions drawn from AE characteristics of a single coal sample have application limitations. This paper studies the deformation patterns and AE characteristics of coals with different strengths. A uniaxial compression experiment was carried out using coal samples with average uniaxial compressive strengths of 30 MPa and 10 MPa; the SAEU2S digital AE system was used to measure the AE counts, dissipation energy, and fracturing point distributions at each deformation stage of the different coals. The results show that the bearing capacity of hard coal is similar to that of the elastic stage and plastic deformation stage, but it may lose its bearing capacity immediately after failure. Soft coal has a relatively distinct stress-softening deformation stage and retains a certain bearing capacity after the peak. The AE counts and dissipation energy of hard coal are significantly higher than those of soft media, with average increases of 49% and 26%, respectively. Via comparative analysis of the distribution and development of internal rupture points within soft coal and hard coal at 15%, 70%, and 80% peak loads, it was observed that hard coal has fewer rupture points in the elastic deformation stage, allowing it to maintain good integrity; however, its rupture points increase rapidly under high stress. Soft coal produces more plastic deformation under low loading conditions, but the development of the fracture is relatively slow in the stress-softening stage. We extracted and summarized the AE characteristics discussed in the literature using one single coal sample, and the results support the conclusions presented in this paper. This study subdivided the deformation process and AE characteristics of soft and hard coals, providing a theoretical guidance and technical support for the application of AE technology in coal with different strengths.

Study on Coal Seam Damage Caused by Liquid Nitrogen Under Different Ground Temperature Conditions

The thermal stress caused by the ultra-low temperature of liquid nitrogen (LN2) can seriously affect the porosity of the coalbed. In this paper, the effects of various temperature differences on the LN2 damage were studied by changing the initial temperature, so as to explore the effect of LN2 on coal seam with different buried depth. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), wave velocity, acoustic emission (AE), and uniaxial compression experiments were used in the experiments. The experimental results show that LN2 causes a lot of damage to coal and the LN2 effect increase at first and then decrease with the increase of the initial temperature. When the initial temperature is 293 K, before and after liquid nitrogen treatment, the wave velocity damage of the coal sample reaches 0.2207 and the compressive strength decreases by 27.92%. These two values are 0.3697 and 47.37% at the initial temperature of 323 K, and 0.2727 and 28.27% at the initial temperature of 353 K. This is because if the temperature exceeds 353 K, it will cause a 3.17% drop in water content, thus reducing the damage caused by LN2, resulting in the overall effect slightly lower than that at 323 K.