Multi-scale Fractured Coal Gas–Solid Coupling Model and Its Applications in Engineering Projects

Abstract

With coal mining entering the geological environment of “high stress, rich gas, strong adsorption and low permeability,” the difficulty of joint coal and gas extraction clearly augments, the risk of solid–gas coupling dynamic disasters greatly increases, and the underlying mechanisms become more complex. In this paper, based on the characteristics of coal’s multi-scale structure and spatiotemporal variation, the multi-scale fractured coal gas–solid coupling model (MSFM) was built. In this model, the interaction between coal matrix and its fractures and the mechanical characteristics of gas-bearing coal were considered, as well as their coupling relationship. By MATLAB software, the stress–damage–seepage numerical computation programs were developed, which were applied into Comsol Multiphysics to simulate gas flow caused by coal mining. The simulation results showed the spatial variability of coal elastic modulus and cross-flow behaviors of coal seam gas, which were superior to the results of traditional gas–solid coupling model. And the numerical results obtained from MSFM were closer to the measured results in field, while the computation results of traditional model were slightly higher than the measured results. Furthermore, the MSFM in a large scale was verified by field engineering project.