In CO
2
-enhanced coalbed methane (CO
2
-ECBM) engineering, accurate knowledge of the interaction mechanism of CO
2
and coal matrix is crucial for improving the recovery of
CH
4
and contributing to the geological sequestration of
CO
2
. This study is performed to prove the accuracy of molecular
simulation and calculate the variation characteristics of pore structure,
volumetric strain, mechanical properties, Fourier transform infrared
(FT-IR) spectra, and the system free energy by molecular dynamics
(MD) and grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) methods. According to
the obtained results, a relationship between pore structure, swelling
strain, mechanical properties, chemical structure, and surface free
energy was established. Then, the correlation of various coal change
characteristics was analyzed to elucidate the interaction mechanism
between CO
2
and coal. The results showed that (1) the molecular
simulation method was able to estimate the swelling mechanism of CO
2
and coal. However, because the adsorption capacity of the
molecular simulate is greater than that of the
experiment and the raw coal is softer than the macromolecular structure,
the molecular results are slightly better than the experimental results.
(2) As pressure increased from 0 to 4 MPa, the intramolecular pores
and sorption-induced strain changed significantly, whereas when the
pressure increased from 4 to 8 MPa (especially at 6–8 Mpa),
there was an increase of the intermolecular pores and mechanical properties
and transition from elastic to plastic. In addition, when the pressure
was >8 MPa, the coal matrix changed slightly. ScCO
2
with
a higher adsorption capacity results in greater damage and causes
larger alterations of coal mechanical properties. (3) The change of
the coal matrix is essentially controlled by the surface free energy
of the molecular system.
E
valence
affects
the aromatic structure and changes the volume of the intramolecular
pores, thus affecting the sorption-induced strain change rate.
E
non
affects the length of side chains and the
disorder degree of coal molecules and changes the volume of the intramolecular
pores, thus affecting the mechanical property change rate. Our findings
shed light on the dynamic process of coal swelling and provide a theoretical
basis for CO
2
enhancing the recovery of CH
4
gas
in coal.