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Floor failure in deep coal mining above confined aquifers with high-water pressure may induce floor water inrush disasters. Considering the effects of mining stress and nonuniformly distributed water pressure, a mechanical calculation model of the island longwall panel in up-dip mining was established, and the stress distribution and floor failure characteristics were analyzed. The failure characteristics of the floor at NO. 2129 panel in Xingdong coal mine were detected by the borehole televiewer and microseismic monitoring system to validate the theoretical model. The results indicated that the floor failure characteristics along the strike and inclination of the island longwall panel in up-dip mining were “asymmetric inverted saddle-shaped” and “spoon-shaped,” respectively. The maximum floor failure depths before and after roof hydraulic fracturing (RHF) were 45.7 m and 29.1 m, respectively. The theoretical calculation results of the maximum depths of floor failure were 45.1 m and 29.9 m, respectively. The theoretical failure characteristics were consistent with those measured on site. The stress concentration magnitude and floor failure depth on the side of the isolated coal pillar were greater than those of other areas, and the water-inrush-prone zones were concentrated on the side of the isolated coal pillar near the intersection of the working face and the roadway. The research results could provide a certain reference for floor failure and water inrush mechanisms under complex geological conditions in deep mining.

China’s western mining area is an arid and semiarid area with a fragile ecological environment, and the high-intensity mining activities aggravate ecological damage. Reasonable choice of the mining parameters (i.e., mining height, panel width, and advancing speed) can not only improve the mining efficiency but also weaken the mining-induced deformation and failures of the overburden and surface. The statistical analysis of the relationship between the mining parameters and periodic weighting interval (PWI) proves that mining parameters have significant influence on overburden failure. In this study, the damage constitutive equation was derived, and the overburden damage degree was defined to quantitatively characterize mining-induced stratum damage in a three-dimensional space. FLAC3D numerical models embedded with a damage constitutive equation were built to compare the panel width effect and advancing speed effect between the overburden damage degree and the water-conducted fracture zone (WCFZ). The reasonable range for mining parameters of the panel 12401 was provided based on the fitting function of the overburden damage degree versus mining parameters. The field measurements were carried out on panel 12401 of the Shangwan coal mine, including the advancing speed, PWI, and ground crack development. The results show that, under constant engineering and geological conditions, the damage degree of overburden will be weakened by increasing the advancing speed, reducing the mining height, or shortening the panel width. The overburden damage degree is more accurate than the height of the water-conducted fractured zone. The reasonable mining parameters of the panel 12401 are 8.8 m in mining height, 300 m in panel width, and 13.47 to 20.58 m/d in advancing speed, respectively. The field measurement results of the PWI and ground cracks have verified the validity using the overburden damage degree to determine high-intensity mining parameters.

Gas diffusion-sorption is a critical step in coalbed methane (CBM) exploitation and carbon dioxide sequestration. Because of the particularity of gas physical properties, it is difficult to visualize the gas diffusion-sorption process in coal by experimental methods. Due to the limitation of experimental approaches to image the three-dimensional coal pore structure, it is impossible to obtain the three-dimensional pore structure images of coal. As a result, the visualization of gas diffusion-sorption in coal pore structure by numerical ways is impossible. In this study, gas diffusion coefficients were firstly estimated by experiments. Then, a gas diffusion-sorption coupled model was developed which can be applied to the nanoscale geometry imaged by synchrotron radiation nano-CT. The dynamic process of gas diffusion and ad-/desorption in the nanoscale microstructure of coal was visualized by the developed gas diffusion-adsorption coupled model and the numerical simulation based on MATLAB. The simulation results show a good agreement with the experimental results. The gas diffusion-sorption coupled model and numerical method can help to investigate the effect of microstructure on gas diffusion and ad-/desorption and provides a possibility to investigate the multiscale gas transportation and adsorption in coal pore-fracture system.

This paper presents the results of an evaluation study of gas drainability in the Bulli seam in the Southern Coalfield of the Sydney Basin, NSW, Australia, where the coal seam gas (CSG) contains a high proportion of carbon dioxide (CO2). Historically the gas drainability in some particular areas of this coal seam was found to be particularly poor, which posed a significant challenge to gas predrainage. As a result, a large volume of greenhouse gases were released to the atmosphere during mining of the coal seam. Furthermore, the high gas content associated with the CO2-rich composition also increased the risks of coal and gas outburst incidents, affecting the safety of mining. After systematic literature review of evaluation factors affecting gas drainability, this evaluation study comprehensively analyzed the main critical factors, including the geology of the area, the coal cleat system, coal microstructure, coal permeability, coal sorption capacity, gas content, and gas composition. Field geology analysis showed geological variations that affected the variations of the coal cleat system and CO2 content in the coal seam. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) tests showed the tight and less-porous features in hard-to-drain coal samples. The colliery gas database analysis was carried out to assess the impact of gas content and gas composition on the drainability of the coal seam. Laboratory tests showed that the coal seam had a permeability of less than 1 mD and also showed that the coal seam was highly undersaturated, especially with high CO2 content.

The coal permeability is known to be influenced by the pore pressure and effective stress in coal mines. In this study, the characteristics of the bituminous coal permeability response to the pore pressure and effective shear stress in the Xutuan coal mine in Huaibei Coalfield in China were investigated under different stress conditions. For this purpose, gas seepage tests with various stress levels were conducted via the original gas flow and displacement testing apparatus using bituminous coal samples from the Xutuan coal mine. The pore pressure effect on the permeability under different stress conditions was assessed by varying the pore pressure in coal samples and simulating different in situ stresses. The axial and radial pressures were controlled to study the response of coal permeability to the effective shear stress. The experimental results revealed that with an increase in pore pressure, the permeability of coal in different stress environments firstly drops and then rises. The permeability increased gradually with the effective shear stress, which trend became more pronounced when the effective shear stress exceeded zero. In case of the axial pressure exceeding the radial one, the cross shear slip was observed, for which the permeability of coal samples increased with the effective shear stress. In the opposite case, the separated shear slip was observed, with the reverse trend.

Protective coal seam mining (PCSM) is one of the most significant mitigation measures of regional outburst in the process of deep coal seam mining, which has high outburst risk in China. During the PCSM process, the phenomenon of methane concentration exceeding the limit usually occurs in the working face. It is vital to understand factors affecting gas emission from the protective seam working face (PSWF) and to obtain an equation for determining the quantity of gas emission. A gas seepage model (GSM) was developed to simulate the gas emission during the process of upper PCSM. In this study, an equation was formulated to determine the quantity of gas desorbed from the protected seam into PSWF. These equations have been developed by using Fick’s second law of diffusion and Darcy’s flow law. The relationship between permeability and stress was described in an elastic-plastic state, and the mechanics of surrounding rock were investigated. It can be concluded from GSM that the initial gas pressure of protected seam, the characteristics of interlayer rocks, and the ventilation pressure of PSWF were the main factors that influenced the desorption of gas emission from the protected seam into PSWF. The developed GSM was tested for calculating gas emission quantity from the PCSM process by utilizing the actual geological condition data of a coal mine, which is located in Hancheng, China. The results have shown great agreement with obtained field measurements, which is done by combining the fitting curve of ventilation air methane quantity for PSWF with an interlayer spacing. A loss coefficient (δ) of 1.012 × 10−3 was obtained in this study.