Characteristics of Stress-Displacement-Fracture Multi-Field Evolution around Gas Extraction Borehole

Abstract

To ensure the effectiveness of the gas extraction borehole, it is necessary to investigate the stress-displacement-fracture evolution of the coal around the borehole. In this study, by constructing a numerical model of a gas extraction borehole, the burial depth and side pressure coefficient are used to characterize the overall stress level of the borehole and the difference in stress distribution caused by complex stress conditions. First, the stress time-varying pattern and force chain distribution of coal around the borehole were revealed. Then, the displacement time-varying pattern and displacement distribution of coal around the borehole were elucidated. Then, the microfracture distribution of coal around the borehole, which characterizes the microfractures, was analyzed. Finally, the validity of the numerical results was verified. The results showed that, after the stress field of the coal around the borehole was adjusted, the force chain of the borehole was unevenly distributed and the stress concentration phenomenon appeared. With the increase in burial depth, the stress around the borehole gradually increased, while the range of stress concentration zone in the borehole kept increasing, and the borehole changed from unilateral instability to bilateral instability. Moreover, the displacement field around the borehole was distributed in the shape of a ”disk leaf”. With the increase in burial depth, the deformation of coal around the borehole increased. With the increase in the side pressure coefficient, the vertical and horizontal displacement also increased gradually. Furthermore, there was a certain correspondence between the development of fracture and the deformation around the coal. With the increase in burial depth, the development of fractures was gradually obvious, and the distribution characteristics were concentrated in the middle and dispersed around. This study provides a theoretical reference for the stability of gas extraction boreholes, aiming to improve the gas extraction effect.

Three-peak evolution characteristics of supporting stress on a super-long working face in a thick coal seam

“…With the development of efficient coal mining technologies (Wu et al, 2022;Li et al, 2023a), the spatial scale of fully mechanized working faces in coal mines in China constantly expands in three aspects: mining depth, horizontal scale (including the working face length and advance length), and vertical scale (mainly the mining height) (Liu et al, 2021;Zou et al, 2022a;Ye et al, 2022;Li et al, 2023b;Ma et al, 2023;Sun et al, 2023). In such context, the mining depth of coal increases at a speed of 10-25 m/a, and the working face length gradually increases from 100-200 m to 300-350 m, and even above 400 m in some cases Zou et al, 2022b;Zhang et al, 2023a;Su et al, 2023;Ye et al, 2023).…”