Experimental study on the infrared precursor characteristics of gas-bearing coal failure under loading

Abstract

The stress and gas pressure in deep coal seams are very high, and instability and failure rapidly and intensely occur. It is important to study the infrared precursor characteristics of gas-bearing coal instability and failure. In this paper, a self-developed stress-gas coupling failure infrared experimental system was used to analyse the infrared radiation temperature (IRT) and infrared thermal image precursor characteristics of gas-free coal and gas-bearing coal. The changes in the areas of the infrared temperature anomalous precursor regions and the effect of the gas on the infrared precursors were examined. The results show that high-temperature anomalous precursors arise mainly when the gas-free coal fails under loading, whereas the gas-bearing coal has high-temperature and low-temperature anomalous precursors. The area of the high-temperature anomalous precursor is approximately 30%–40% under gas-bearing coal unstable failure, which is lower than the 60%–70% of the gas-free coal. The area of the low-temperature abnormal precursor is approximately 3%–6%, which is higher than the 1%–2% of the gas-free coal. With increasing gas pressure, the area of the high-temperature anomalous precursor gradually decreases, and the area of the low-temperature anomalous precursor gradually increases. The high- and low-temperature anomalous precursors of gas-bearing coal are mainly caused by gas desorption, volume expansion, and thermal friction. The presence of gas inhibits the increase in IRT on the coal surface and increases the difficulty of infrared radiation (IR) monitoring and early warning for gas-bearing coal.