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Coal and gas outburst has been one of the main threats to coal mine safety. Accurate coal and gas outburst prediction is the key to avoid accidents. The data is actual and complete by default in the existing prediction model. However, in fact, data missing and abnormal data value often occur, which results in poor prediction performance. Therefore, this paper proposes to use the correlation coefficient to complete the missing data filling in real time for the first time. The abnormal data identification is completed based on the Pauta criterion. Random forest model is used to realize the prediction model. The prediction performance of sensitivity 100%, accuracy 97.5%, and specificity 84.6% were obtained. Experiments show that the model can complete the prediction of coal and gas outburst in real time under the condition of missing data and abnormal data value, which can be used as a new prediction model of coal and gas outburst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, coal and gas outbursts are the "biggest killer" of mine safety production. With the deepening of mining, the mine gas disaster is becoming more and more serious. From the perspective of big data, the establishment of a dynamic visualization system of gas geology integrating gas geology, gas drainage, dynamic outburst prevention, and other information can effectively improving the defects of gas disaster prevention and control in the coal industry, such as insufficient advance, lack of systematic identification methods and backward information collection methods, which is of great significance to improve the ability of gas hazard identification. Based on the precise detection of geology, structure, and gas, this paper proposes to use information technology, the Internet of things, big data analysis, and other technologies to comprehensively analyze the changes in gas occurrence and coal seam occurrence on the basis of the causes of mine gas geological outburst, fully consider the logical relationship between different factors and outburst and adopt the disciplinary advantages of grey theory, fault tree theory, BP neural network, and so on. The tree of coal and gas outburst accidents with general significance is constructed by 24 relatively independent factors. The input vector is determined as the matrix composed of eight main factors affecting and controlling outburst, including gas pressure, coal mechanical strength, comprehensive characteristic coefficient of coal fragmentation, the permeability coefficient of coal, comprehensive characteristic coefficient of coal seam bifurcation and combination, comprehensive characteristic coefficient of coal thickness and coal thickness change, fault complexity coefficients and interlayer sliding comprehensive characteristic coefficient. The geological data affecting coal and gas outbursts are analyzed and calculated scientifically so that the gas geological data can be updated in time, and the change of gas geological laws is presented dynamically, so as to guide the mine to predict the gas disaster more scientifically and reliably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overburden rock mining fissures are the main cause of coal spontaneous combustion, gas pooling, and mine water inrush caused by goaf air leakage. Rapid and accurate determination of the development and evolution law of mining fissures have great significance for the application of coal spontaneous combustion prevention and control, gas disaster prevention and control, and water damage prevention and control measures. In this paper, a preliminary judgment of the development height of the water-conducting fracture zone is made based on the theoretical analysis, and the physical model size of the numerical simulation is determined according to its judgment result. It is judged that the development height of its water-conducting fracture zone is between 49 and 64.2 m, which is in line with the actual results. Based on this, a three-dimensional solid model was established in PFC (Particle Flow Code) software to analyze the fissure development pattern of the overburden rock and the development height of the water-conducting fracture zone when the main key stratum of the rock seam is in different positions by simulating the excavation process of the coal seam. The results show that when the main key stratum is located in the "original crack belt boundary," the development of water-conducting fracture zone is significantly inhibited; when the main key stratum is located in the "original caving zone," the water-conducting fracture zone is fully developed, and the crack belt finally develops to the top of the model. In order to verify the accuracy of the numerical simulation, similar material simulation experiments were performed under the same scheme. The results are consistent with the numerical simulation conclusions, effectively verifying the accuracy of the numerical simulation. Finally, the extraction of porosity of the goaf was carried out based on numerical simulation, and the permeability zoning of the goaf was performed; the results show that the development of the water-conducting fracture zone has a significant influence on the permeability of the mining area, and the more fully developed the fissure is, the greater is its permeability. In this paper, the fissure development law in the goaf under different key stratums is explored by various research stratums, and the results show a good consistency, which provides a scientific basis for the prevention and control of disasters such as water inrush and coal and gas outburst in mines, and provides theoretical guidance for safe mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rock masses that occur in nature are damaged and unstable due to the impact of rock burst, coal and gas outbursts, and other human mining activities, posing a major threat to human life and safety. In the light of the early warning of the danger of the loaded rock mass, this paper adopts acoustic emission (AE) device to analyze the AE signal characteristics and damage laws of the loaded rock under different stress levels. Then, based on the AE signal characteristics of the loaded rock, data mining technology is used to construct a model to predict the failure and instability of the loaded rock mass and, finally, verify the reliability of the prediction model based on data mining. The results show that the AE signal characteristics of red sandstone under uniaxial load are related to the magnitude of the bearing stress. Before the plastic deformation stage, the AE energy and the cumulative count per second are both small. After the loaded rock enters the plastic deformation stage, the AE energy and the cumulative count per second both increase sharply. After the AE energy is greater than 500 mV ∗ ms and the cumulative count per second is greater than 150, the loaded rock mass will issue an early warning signal. The research results can provide a reference value for the safe production of the project site and the dangerous early warning of the loaded rock mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the coal and gas outburst phenomenon in the mining space, this paper analyzes the main characteristics of coal and gas outburst accidents, defines the outburst airflow reversal degree, and constructs a simplified topology graph of tunneling ventilation system, while the air door is not destroyed. Using the numerical simulation method, this paper elaborates on the relationship between the outburst pressure and airflow reversal degree. The results indicate that the inlet pressure increases to 264 hPa and the outlet pressure increases to 289 hPa when the outburst pressure increases from 1 hPa to 1 MPa, and the relative variation coefficient of pressure decreases from 1501.5 to 1.62 in the inlet of return airway and decreases from 2002 to 1.65 in the outlet of return airway. Furthermore, the air velocity decreases from −1.38 to −284.44 m/s in the inlet and increases from 3.10 to 297.38 m/s in the outlet. Moreover, the gas concentration of the inlet and outlet in return airway increases rapidly with the increase of outburst pressure. When the outburst pressure is greater than 0.15 MPa, the gas concentration will be over 98% in tunneling ventilation system. This paper also finds out a cubic polynomial relationship existing between the reversal degree and the outburst pressure. It provides the prediction of coal and gas outburst and serves as a guidance in case mine ventilation disturbances occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small fault area in coal mine has great risk of coal and gas outburst. However, the damage effect of small faults on coal pore structure still lacks systematic research. Taking a small reverse fault under Pingmei No. 2 mine as an example, this paper collects the hanging wall coal samples within 5 m from the fault plane and the coal samples 50 m from the fault plane, where there is no fault development. The pore structure characteristics of the two coal samples were analyzed and compared by means of a scanning electron microscope, mercury injection, liquid nitrogen adsorption, and Raman spectroscopy. The test results show that compared with the coal samples without faults, the coal samples at faults form micron-scale fracture zones with constant spacing, stable occurrence, and flat two walls. The pore volume and pore specific surface area of different pore sizes increase, the pore peak of mesopore (100~1000 nm) shifts from 1000 nm to 200~400 nm, and its connectivity is enhanced. The number of micropores (<10 nm) increased significantly, and the ink bottle type pores developed. Faulting also has a certain impact on the macromolecular structure of coal, which shows that the D peak area decreases and the area of G peak increases, indicating that the order degree of macromolecular structure of coal increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physical simulation system is an important means to study the mechanism of coal and gas outburst. The small- and medium-sized coal and gas outbursts account for the largest proportion in China. So, the paper focuses on small- and medium-sized coal and gas outbursts based on key physical rules and their statistical characteristics. According to the geometric parameters statistical data of more than 100 caverns, the proportion of outburst caverns whose depth is less than 5 m is 80%, and whose depth is more than 6 m is 13%. The ratio of depth and cavern outlet's diameter is 2.58–7.31. There are statistical relationship of 2 times between coal's and cavern's volume, and between gas emission volume per ton and gas content in seam. Then, the cavern of coal and gas outburst is simplified as an ellipsoid, and the shape of cavern outlet is simplified as a circle. The cavern's and the prototype's geometrical parameters of small and medium coal and gas outbursts were deduced. The depth of cavern is 5 m, width is 4 m, and diameter of cavern outlet is 0.68–1.94 m. The depth of coal and outburst prototype is 12.3 m, width is 6.5 m, and diameter of cavern outlet is 0.68 m. In order to guarantee the movement similarity, according to the relationships among statistical data of outburst coal particle's size, cavern outlet's size, and height of tunnel, the minimum cavern outlet's size was calculated. Select 10 times the coal particle's size (5 mm) as the smallest size. Then, maximum geometric similarity ratio of coal and gas outburst was deduced, and it is 13.6. The minimum geometrical parameters of coal and outburst similar model were obtained. Its depth is 0.9 m, width is 0.48 m, and diameter of cavern outlet is 50 mm. According to the results, the physical simulation system was developed. The results provide support to carry out physical simulation experiment of coal and gas outburst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rock burst is one of the most sophisticated and threatening problems in the process of mining activities of underground coal mines, which can evolve into phenomena such as gas outburst, violent ground pressure behavior of surrounding rock of stope roadway, and high dynamic load energy event of roof overburden fracture through the interaction between various influencing factors. This paper deeply studies the causes, consequences, and disaster mechanism of "2–2 rock burst accident" in Xinjulong coal mine, gives the network diagram of the relationship between the main influencing factors of fault type rock burst and high-energy events, establishes a mechanical model on this basis, and explores the influence and evolution law of fault influencing factors on the elastic strain energy field of surrounding rock of stope roadway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal mining has to develop to deeper strata with the increasing demand for coal, which leads to frequent coal and gas outburst disasters. Especially, when there is a deformed coal in the coal seam, the outburst disasters are easier and more intense. Coal and gas outburst disasters can be promoted by the fragmentation. In order to clearly explain the reasons for the impact of fragmentation on deformed coal and gas outburst, mercury intrusion porosimetry, low-temperature liquid N2 adsorption test, and scanning electron microscope were carried out in this paper. The differences in pore characteristics of intact coal and deformed coal under different particle size conditions were analyzed from pore shapes, pore size distributions, and fractal dimensions. The damage paths of fragmentation on various kinds of pores in intact coal are as follows: macropores, mesopores, minipores, and micropores, and those on various kinds of pores in deformed coal are as follows: macropores, micropores, mesopores, and minipores. According to the fractal dimension theory and experimental results, the calculative results of fractal dimensions show that the fragmentation and tectonism reduce the surface roughness and structural complexity of macropores and mesopores and increase those of minipores and micropores in deformed coal. Finally, combined with the coupling effect of fragmentation and tectonism on pores, the reason of deformed coal with high crushing degree in fields of outburst was explained. The research provides the basis for the prevention of coal and gas outburst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confining pressure is closely related to the deformation and failure characteristics of gas-containing coal and is one of the key factors for gas outburst-rockburst coupled dynamic disaster. Firstly, this paper briefly summarized the triaxial compression test results of gas-containing coal under different confining pressures, including deformation and stiffness and failure and strength. Then, based on the second developed MatDEM gas-solid coupling program, the macro- and microdeformation and failure process of coal samples under different confining pressures and constant gas pressure were simulated, and the distribution of particle stress, pore stress, and crack, as well as energy conversion characteristics, was obtained. Finally, the influence mechanism of confining pressure on deformation and failure of gas-containing coal was discussed, and the occurrence conditions of coal and gas outburst, rockburst, and their coupled dynamic disasters were distinguished. The results show that the peak strength and residual strength after failure of gas-containing coal both increase approximately linearly with the increase of confining pressure, while the elastic modulus does not change much or increases continuously, which is closely related to the number of microdefects in the coal sample. The strengthening effect of confining pressure on rock stiffness and strength mainly comes from external support and compaction. The total number of cracks decreases with the increase of confining pressure, while the number of shear cracks increases, and the inclination angle between the formed macroscopic main crack and the horizontal plane gradually decreases. The maximum cumulative elastic energy and residual elastic energy both increase with the increase of confining pressure, which leads to the increase of the impact tendency index of coal samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore the evolution and release rule of internal energy storage in the process of coal and gas outburst and to further reveal the mechanism of coal and gas outburst from the perspective of energy. In this paper, the experiment of gas expansion energy release of coal samples under different adsorption pressures and with different moisture contents was carried out with the self-developed experimental device for release of gas-bearing coal expansion energy under load, and the energy of the whole outburst process was divided into three parts: the total expansion energy of gas, the energy consumed by destroying and throwing out coal body and the energy released inefficiently. On the basis of reasonable assumption, the energy evolution calculation model of each part was constructed with mathematical method. By analyzing the changes and distribution rules of three parts of energy under different experimental conditions, this paper explored the controlling effects of gas pressure, water content, and other variables on the energy evolution rules in the process of coal and gas outburst. Experimental and theoretical studies showed that in the gas-dominated coal and gas outburst process, the destruction of coal body was in the form of stratification; under each experimental condition, there existed a critical gas pressure value for the occurrence of coal and gas outburst, and there was a sudden change of energy evolution near this value; the existence of water made the critical pressure and the minimum energy consumption of coal and gas outburst increase obviously; under the experimental conditions, there was a linear relationship between the critical gas pressure and water content and a positive exponential relationship between the minimum energy consumption and water content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strong disturbance of upward mining of the short-distance multiseam results in frequent fractures in the coal seam to be mined, jeopardizing the operation safety due to the instability of the surrounding rock of the overlying stope and risks of coal and gas outburst. A lucrative alternative is the downward mining of multiseam, which wide implementation is limited by the lack of reliable data on stress evolution characteristics. In this paper, the evolution, nonlinear interaction, and superposition characteristics of mining-induced stress after multiple pressure relief in the short-distance multi-seam were investigated by the numerical simulation and physical simulation, taking the endowment and mining technology characteristics of group B short-distance multiseam in Pan'er Coal Mine in Anhui Province of China as an example. The numerical and physical models of multiple (2—5 times) mining activities in pressure relief multiseam (with five main coal layers) under downward mining are constructed and implemented with the FLAC3D software and 1 : 100 scaling, respectively. The results showed that a pressure relief arch, which bears and transfers stresses, is formed on the coal seam's roof and floor. In downward mining, the local arch expands to the long arch, which bearing capacity within the influence range of multiple mining disturbances is weak, and the arch structure is prone to instability. If a coal pillar is left in the upper coal seam after its mining, the lower coal seam mining will switch from the large-scale low-stress area under the goaf to the small-scale high-stress area of nonlinear interaction of the multiple mining stresses with the stress under the coal pillar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protective layer mining, as a dominating method for preventing coal and gas outburst, is generally adopted in highly gassy coal mines. In the absence of a suitable thickness coal seam to serve as the protective layer, the rock-coal composite protective layer was proposed in this paper. We conducted a series of simulations and engineering measurements to investigate the protective effect under the mining of the rock-coal composite protective layer of the Zhongtai coal mine located in the Hebi area of Henan, China. The numerical simulation analysis showed that, after the completion of protective layer mining, the minimum vertical stress of the No. 2-1 coal seam had been reduced to 3.46 MPa. The maximum vertical displacement of the No. 2-1 coal seam is 455.01 mm. The maximum expansion deformation of the No. 2-1 coal seam is 9.77‰; the effective pressure relief range is as long as 160 m. The similarity simulation experiment revealed that, after the completion of protective layer mining, the minimum vertical stress of the No. 2-1 coal seam is 4.0 MPa. The maximum vertical displacement of the No. 2-1 coal seam is 640 mm. The maximum expansion deformation of the No. 2-1 coal seam is 26.37‰; the effective protection range reaches 130 m. The engineering measurements demonstrated that the variation law of gas drainage parameters in the protected layer corresponds to the protected layer's vertical stress distribution law in numerical simulation and similarity simulation. With the exploitation of the composite protective layer, the protective layer's pressure begins to release. The average gas drainage concentration is 2-3 times of that before the composite protective layer mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal and gas burst is one of the significant and catastrophic hazards in underground longwall operations. To date, the protective coal seam mining has been recognized as the most effective mining method for minimizing or even avoiding the effect of the coal and gas burst. In this paper, numerical modelling and field test were carried out for the longwall operation in Qidong Coal Mine in order to investigate the induced stress and coal seam gas drainage performance in the protected coal seam after the complete extraction of the protective coal seam. It was found that four stress zones can be classified in the protected coal seam being the original stress zone, stress concentration zone, stress relief zone, and recompaction zone. In addition, the monitoring data of gas concentration and volume change in the field agree well with the numerical modelling results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thick and hard rock strata (THRS) exist widely in coal measure strata, which control the movements of overlying rock strata in stopes. When THRS break, great energy is released, which could aggravate the risks of coal and gas outburst, rock burst, and other dynamic disasters. Therefore, the foundation and key of preventing dynamic disasters are to distinguish the THRS that could induce coal-rock dynamic disasters and to analyze the laws of rock stratum breaking and energy releasing. The paper proposed the theoretical calculation methods of the energy accumulation and attenuation of rock breaking which is greatly affected by the hanging length of rock strata and the spreading distance. One or more roof strata that play a leading role in inducing dynamic disasters of the underlying coal mass are defined as the key disaster-inducing strata (KDIS). The disaster-inducing coefficient (DIC) is defined and used as the criterion of KDIS. The greater the source energy, the shorter the spreading distance, and the smaller the attenuation coefficient are, the easier the roof strata are to become KDIS. The disaster-inducing ability of the main THRS was analyzed, and the igneous sill was judged as KDIS, taking the Yangliu Coal Mine as project background. The breaking laws of the igneous sill were obtained by the methods of UDEC numerical simulation and microseismic monitoring, which verified the criterion of KDIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal and gas outburst is a serious disaster in the mining, and crosscut coal is the most prone to cause the coal and gas outburst. In order to study the mechanism of outburst, this paper studied the stress distribution characteristics in front of the working face in the process of rock roadway driving before implementing crosscut coal firstly. On this basis, the hypothesis of stress distribution on the "strong and soft face" of coal-rock mass was proposed. And by using the hypothesis, the mechanical equation for the parameter changes of the plastic zone in front of the working face in crosscut coal was established, and the width and morphological characteristics of the plastic zone in crosscut coal were analyzed. The results show that during the process, as the working face moves forward, the shape distribution of the plastic zone in front of the working face changes from the "semielliptical" to "semibutterfly," And based on the distribution characteristics of plastic zone in working face in crosscut coal, modification proposals for outburst-prevention measures were proposed and provided technical support for the outburst-prevention measures and key parameters setting to prevent the coal outburst in crosscut coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the problem of gas outburst prediction in the working face of coal mine. Firstly, based on a comprehensive analysis of influence factors of gas outburst, an improved entropy weight algorithm is introduced into a grey correlation analysis algorithm; thus, the reasonable weights and correlation order of the influencing factors are obtained to improve the objectivity of the evaluation. The main controlling factors obtained are used as the input of the prediction model. Secondly, by utilizing the improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO), the penalty factor and kernel parameter of least square support vector machine (LSSVM) are optimized to enhance the global search ability and avoid the occurrence of the local optimal solutions, and a new prediction model of gas outburst based on IPSO-LSSVM is established. At last, the prediction model is applied in the tunneling heading face 14141 of Jiuli Hill mine in Jiaozuo City, China. The case study demonstrates that the prediction accuracy of the proposed model is 92%, which is improved compared with that of the SVM model and GA-LSSVM model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze the effect of small faults in the working face on coal and gas outbursts, the coal and gas outburst accident in the 21431 working face was studied with the 3DEC numerical simulation method, and the main research contents were the change laws of both stresses at the small fault and the overburden strata movement rate in the small fault zone of which the drop height and the strike were designed into different groups. The results show that the risk of small fault slip increases with the advancing working face. In addition, there is a positive correlation between the risk and the small fault throw. The movement rate of overburden strata in the small fault zone increases along with the rising of the small fault throw, which increases the energy transferred to the coal seam from the surrounding rock under the effect of the small fault. Hence, the effect of small faults on the working face on coal and gas outbursts was positively correlated with the small fault throw. Under the influence of a small fault strike, the closer it is to the small fault along the dip distance at the same working face, the greater the risk will be of a coal and gas outburst. And the bigger the small fault strike is, the greater is the stress concentration degree in front of the working face and the more the elastic energy is stored and the greater is the possibility of an outburst. The paper analyzes the influence of small faults on coal and gas outbursts in the working face, which has reference significance for the prediction and prevention of coal and gas outburst disaster in the working face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the energy accumulation and rate of release in hard coal under dynamic, static, and coupled dynamic-static loading and its failure mode is of significance when studying the mechanism underpinning coal mine dynamic disasters such as rock burst, coal, and gas outburst. In this paper, four experimental methods (uniaxial compression, Brazilian splitting, and coupled dynamic-static tensile and coupled dynamic-static compression) were used to analyze the energy accumulation, energy rate of release, and failure modes of this type of hard coal under different loading conditions. It was concluded that (1) the energy accumulation and rate of releases of this type of hard coal under static compression are 17.63–179.90 times and 18.57–13157.89 times those under static tension; the energy accumulation and rate of releases in dynamic compression are 2.11–248.53 and 0.23–48 times those under dynamic tension, respectively. (2) During dynamic loading, the ratio of compressive energy accumulation to tensile energy accumulation is reduced by 1.6 times compared with static loading, and the ratio of compressive energy release to tensile energy rate of release is decreased by 363.84 times compared with static loading. (3) The energy accumulation and rate of releases of this type of hard coal for dynamic tensile are, respectively, 2.64–17.42 and 1.07–5.26 times those under static tensile load; the energy accumulation under dynamic compression is greater than that under static compression, being 0.24–15.04 times that under static compressive, but the energy rate of release under dynamic compression is 0.0003–0.56 times that under static compression. (4) The greater the prepeak energy accumulation, the greater the degree of damage of the coal sample at each stage, and also the higher the degree of fragmentation after the failure. The research results play an important guiding role in further understanding the mechanism of coal mine dynamic disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigations of the coal-gas system-in particular, those concerning the amount of the gas adsorbed and the kinetics of its release-are extremely important in the analysis of hazards associated with the presence of methane and outbursts of gas and rocks. Such an investigation is also useful for analyzing the adsorbent parameters. Adsorption analyzers that are available on the market fall into two types: gravimetric and volumetric. Gravimetric analyzers are very complex, stationary devices. Their biggest drawback is the problem pertaining to a sudden pressure change, which initiates the processes of gas adsorption and transportation. This is associated with a higher degree of measurement uncertainty with regard to the determination of the diffusion coefficient. By contrast, volumetric analyzers are usually far cheaper and are capable of processing sudden pressure changes. However, in this case, the measurement is seldom isobaric in nature, which makes it difficult to use for determination of the diffusion coefficient on the basis of the unipore model. The author of this paper intends to show a simple device based on a gas flowmeter, which makes use of a phenomenon known as 'barbotage'. The cost of constructing such a device is several dozen times cheaper than the cost of gravimetric and volumetric analyzers available on the market. A sudden pressure change is allowed, and the release of methane is measured under quasi-isobaric conditions. The paper discusses the concept of the device and provides an analysis of the results that it generated. These results were juxtaposed with those obtained using a gravimetric reference device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For deep coal mines, geological disturbances or mining activities can cause damage to coal and rock masses, easily inducing dynamic disasters such as rock bursts or coal and gas outbursts, which seriously threaten the safety production of coal mine. In this paper, first, the Liyazhuang Coal Mine introduced the SOS MS (Sensor Observation Service Microseismic) monitoring system from the Polish Research Institute and verified the accuracy of its positioning. Then, to study the characteristics of MS signals induced by different mining activities, based on the field monitoring results, the waveform and frequency spectrum characteristics of MS signals at different energy levels induced by different mining activities are analyzed, and the energy levels of MS signals caused by different mining activities are classified. Studies have shown that there are large differences in the waveform and spectral characteristics of MS signals at different energy levels. High-level energy seismic signals are characterized by large amplitudes, low frequencies, relatively concentrated distribution, long vibration duration, and slow attenuation. In addition, the relationship between mining activities and MS events is also statistically analyzed based on the spatial and temporal distribution of MS events with the advancement of working face, and the results show that the increase of vibration frequency and energy can be precursor information for roof pressure. With the advance of the working face, the MS energy has the characteristic of periodic distribution, which is consistent with the periodic weighting revealed by the working resistance of the support. This study provides a reference for further revealing the energy release mechanism of rock burst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal and gas outburst is a kind of complex dynamic disaster with short duration and strong explosiveness, and the modes and strength of the outburst are determined by the in situ stress, gas pressure, and physical and mechanical properties of the coal mass. In this paper, the status quo of research on the mechanism of coal and gas outburst in China is described from three aspects: the controlling effect of single factor, the controlling effect of multi-factor, and new understandings of the outburst mechanism in recent years. Firstly, controlling factors of coal and gas outburst are classified for an in-depth analysis of the main factors of the same type of disasters, and the research progress and new understandings of the mechanism of coal and gas outburst are systematically sorted out. Secondly, the influencing factors of the strength coal mass are analyzed, and the related issues of coal mass strength on coal and gas outburst disaster mechanism are discussed. The results show that the stages of incubation, occurrence, development, and stop on coal and gas outburst are affected by the coupling effects of in situ stress field, gas pressure field, and seepage field, and the coal strength becomes an important factor affecting outburst strength under the same in situ stress and gas pressure. Therefore, the scientific and reasonable improvement methods of such similar simulation experiment devices are proposed according to the existing experimental methods and devices, which is of great significance to provide ideas for the continuous transferring to deep mining and preventing coal and gas outburst in China in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights from the article: With the rapid development of global economy, underground projects such as underground transportation, strategic storage, and mineral resource exploitation are increasing in scale and speed. Four characteristic energy parameters, namely, storage energy rock, storage energy limit, energy storage ratio, and energy dissipation ratio, were proposed to describe energy storage and dissipation properties of rock. "Building Deformation Prediction Based on Ground Surface Settlements of Metro-Station Deep Excavation" authored by D. Li and C. Yan studies the influence of tunnel excavation on ground settlement and building deformation.

Risk prediction of dynamic disasters such as rock burst, gas outburst, and water inrush is closely related to the permeability evolution of coal seam. According to the characteristics of the lower protective layer mining, the basic assumption of gas-solid coupling model of the coal was proposed in this paper. The permeability enhancement coefficient of equivalent layer spacing was first put forward. Based on the three-zone-shaped dynamic evolution of the permeability of the overlying protective layer during the lower protective layer mining, the theories of seepage mechanics and damage mechanics were applied to introduce the permeability enhancement coefficient of equivalent layer spacing. A mathematical model of permeability evolution of the protected coal seam in the lower protective layer mining was established. Based on the engineering background of the lower protective layer mining in Changping Coal Mine, the numerical simulation using the proposed mathematical model was performed. The results showed that the stress and permeability of the protected layer in #3 coal seam evolved dynamically with the advancement of the working face of the protective layer in #8 coal seam. When the working face of the protective layer in #8 coal seam advanced to 80 m, the stress reduction rate in the relief area tended to be stable, and the stress in the stress reduction area was about 50% of the original rock stress. When advanced to 80 m, the permeability of the protected layer of the #3 coal seam increased sharply, and the permeability increased by 873 times. With the continuous advancement, the permeability of the protected layer in #3 coal seam tended to increase steadily, and the permeability increased by 1100–1200 times. The calculated magnitude of permeability increment is consistent with that in the engineering practice, indicating that the permeability evolution model is basically reasonable. The research provides a theoretical guidance for the gas drainage field application in the lower protective layer mining for prevention of coal and gas outburst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the identification of coal and gas outburst risk, using the advantages of the clone selection algorithm (CSA), such as self-adaptation and robustness, and the characteristics of fast convergence of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, the complex decoding problem, and mutation process brought by CSA binary coding are used. It is difficult to control the problem. Using PSO optimization, the problem of abnormal detection and identification in coal and gas outburst monitoring is developed and studied, and a CSA coal and gas outburst risk anomaly detection and identification model based on PSO optimization variation is established. The model uses the coal and gas outburst index data as a collection of antigen-stimulated antibodies to achieve abnormal detection and identification of measured data. With the help of the measured data, the verification results show that the model can effectively detect and identify the risk of coal and gas outburst, and the identification results are consistent with the risk of coal and gas outburst in the field. It can be used as an effective risk identification model to guide coal mining work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When building tunnels in karst areas, the hidden high-pressure water-bearing karst caves are prone to cause geological disasters such as water inrush and mud gushing. In order to study the disaster process of water and mud resistant rock mass with the quasi-masonry structure and the accompanying catastrophe information of water inrush in karst tunnels by the drilling and blasting method, a new method based on the DEM and fictitious joint technology is adopted to simulate the evolution process of water inrush and study the evolutionary characteristics of catastrophe information like seepage pressure and displacement under the conditions of different joint inclination angles, tunnel depths, and thickness of the water and mud resistant rock mass. The research results show that (1) the seepage pressure and displacement in the water and mud resistant rock mass decrease and increase respectively along the water and mud resistant rock mass from top to bottom in the process of water inrush. (2) The displacement and seepage pressure in the water and mud-resistant rock mass increases with the increase of the joint inclination angle. The greater the tunnel depth and thickness of the water and mud-resistant rock mass, the faster the propagation speed of the fissure zone. (3) With the increase of the water and mud-resistant rock mass thickness, the failure mode of the tunnel outburst layer structure gradually changes from the overall collapse to the partial collapse of the vault to form a relatively stable slump arch. The research results can provide some guidance for tunnel construction in the karst tunnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pore structure and methane adsorption of coal reservoir are closely correlated to the coalbed gas occurrence and outburst. Full-scale pore structure and its fractal heterogeneity of coal samples were quantitatively characterized using low-pressure N2 gas adsorption (LP-N2GA) and high-pressure mercury intrusion porosimetry (HP-MIP). Fractal pore structure and adsorption capacities between outburst and nonoutburst coals were compared, and their geological significance to gas occurrence and outburst was discussed. The results show that pore volume (PV) is mainly contributed by macropores (>1000 nm) and mesopores (100–1000 nm), while specific surface area (SSA) is dominated by micropores (<10 nm) and transition pores (10–100 nm). On average, the PV and SSA of outburst coal samples are 4.56 times and 5.77 times those of nonoutburst coal samples, respectively, which provide sufficient place for gas adsorption and storage. The pore shape is dominated by semiclosed pores in the nonoutburst coal, whereas open pores and inkbottle pores are prevailing in the outburst coal. The pore size is widely distributed in the outburst coal, in which not only micropores are dominant, but also, transition pores and mesopores are developed to a certain extent. Based on the data from HP-MIP and LP-N2GA, pore spatial structure and surface are of fractal characteristics with fractal dimensions D m 1 (2.81–2.97) and D n (2.50–2.73) calculated by Menger model and Frenkel–Halsey–Hill (FHH) model, respectively. The pore structure in the outburst coal is more heterogeneous as its D n and D m 1 are generally larger than those of the nonoutburst coal. The maximum methane adsorption capacities ( V L : 15.34–20.86 cm3/g) of the outburst coal are larger than those of the nonoutburst coal ( V L : 9.97–13.51cm3/g). The adsorptivity of coal samples is governed by the micropores, transition pores, and D n because they are positively correlated with the SSA. The outburst coal belongs to tectonically deformed coal (TDC) characterized by weak strength, rich microporosity, complex pore structure, strong adsorption capacity, but poor pore connectivity because of inkbottle pores. Therefore, the area of TDC is at high risk for gas outburst as there is a high-pressure gas sealing zone with abundant gas enrichment but limited gas migration and extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the dynamic phenomenon that coal and rock are susceptible to external impact disturbance in the mining process, combined with the rheological hypothesis mechanism of coal and gas outburst, the RLSS-II-type triaxial loading creep test system of gas-containing coal and rock developed by ourselves is used to carry out the conventional triaxial rheological test of gas-containing coal and rock and the rheological disturbance effect test of gas-containing coal and rock under impact disturbance. The strength limit neighborhood of gas-containing coal and rock is determined, and the gas-containing coal and rock entering the strength limit neighborhood are subjected to different impact disturbances. The experimental results show that, (1) under the confining pressure of 0 MPa, 2.5 MPa, and 5 MPa, the longitudinal deformations of gas-bearing coal and rock are 32 mm, 27 mm, and 22 mm, respectively, indicating that the deformation of coal and rock will be affected by confining pressure, and with the increase of confining pressure, the deformation will decrease. (2) In the test, the deformation of coal and rock in the late stage of uniform creep stage can be regarded as a strain threshold. Before this threshold, the strain of coal and rock is not obvious, and the deformation is only 1.1 mm. After exceeding a threshold, the deformation of coal and rock is 9 mm, and the deformation increases significantly. Then, it enters the accelerated creep stage quickly and finally damages. The vicinity of this threshold is called the strength limit neighborhood of coal and rock containing gas. (3) The gas-bearing coal and rock without entering the strength limit neighborhood and entering the strength limit neighborhood are changed by confining pressure and different impact disturbance, respectively. It is found that, whether in the strength limit neighborhood or outside the strength limit neighborhood, the confining pressure has an effect on the strain, but the influence is not large. Under different impact disturbance, the deformation of coal and rock within and outside the strength limit neighborhood is 8 mm and 0.4 mm, respectively, and the deformation changes obviously, indicating that the impact disturbance has a great influence on the deformation of coal and rock within the strength limit neighborhood, and the coal and rock with large impact disturbance are destroyed before the coal and rock with small impact disturbance, indicating that the greater the impact disturbance, the shorter the time required for destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accidental coal and gas outbursts lead to major disasters in coal-producing countries and are difficult to mitigate. To elucidate the energy dissipation law for coal and gas outburst shock waves in a complex ventilation network of mines, a coal-and-gas-outburst-energy-propagation simulation and parameter determination test device were developed and used to perform physical simulation experiments under different outburst strength conditions. These experiments were combined with numerical simulations to obtain the propagation law of outburst shock waves in a roadway and analyze different outburst intensities according to the gas counterflow criterion, highlighting the hazard characteristics of shock waves in a fresh air tunnel. The results showed that when a shock wave passed through the turning roadway, its intensity and speed were greatly attenuated and that the overpressure value of a shock wave in a straight roadway was greater than that at a corner. Upon encountering a rigid wall, the superposition of the incident and reflected shock waves increased the peak overpressure of the shock wave per unit area. When a fresh air roadway is near the coal uncovering position in rock drift ("Shimen") a corresponding counter-backflow device should be installed at the location of the connecting road near the fresh air roadway, under the condition that normal ventilation is not affected. These numerical simulation results are consistent with general experimental trends, indicating that the analyses conducted in this study are reliable and can provide a theoretical basis for the prevention of secondary disasters due to coal and gas outbursts in mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to realize dynamic, continuous, and real-time prediction of coal and gas outburst risk in real time in blasting driving face, an outburst risk prediction method based on the characteristics of gas emission after blasting is proposed. In this study, the causes of abnormal gas concentration in blasting driving face are analyzed, and the identification method of abnormal gas concentration based on weighted K-nearest neighbor (weighted KNN) is proposed. The correlation between gas emission characteristics after blasting and K1 value is analyzed, and the prediction model of outburst risk based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) is established and applied in Jinjia coal mine in China. The results show that the causes of abnormal gas concentration mainly include ventilation stop, blasting operation, sensor adjustment, and other abnormalities. The accuracy of the identification method is 86.1%. Especially, the identification accuracy of blasting operation is 92%. There are strong correlations between the growth rate, peak value, and decay rate of gas concentration after blasting and K1 value, and the maximum correlation coefficient is 0.92. Using the prediction model, 28 times of jet holes and 1 small outburst event are predicted successfully, and the efficiency of the prediction model is 76.39%. By this technology, the utilization rate of gas information is improved, and the relationship between the change characteristics of gas concentration after blasting and the risk of coal seam outburst is established, which is of significant for improving the prediction accuracy and risk management ability of coal and gas outburst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the stability of coal and rock in areas of normal faults disturbed by the dynamic loads of blasting, the damage characteristics of coal and rock within a normal fault are investigated using similarity simulation tests. The mechanism for coal and gas outbursts within a normal fault is analyzed theoretically, and the results indicate that the maximum tensile stress in the vertical direction of the blasting hole in the normal-fault model is 1.17 times that in the no-fault model. The propagation of cracks near the blasting hole produces crushing circles, and more cracks are produced in the normal-fault model, causing severe damage to the coal seam and floor rock adjacent to the upper wall of the normal fault. Meanwhile, coal on the surface of the coal seam falls off. The cracks extend to the roof rock through the footwall of the normal fault. Cracks in the adjacent strata and coal seam interpenetrate those around the blasting hole, which is a potentially dangerous area for coal and gas outbursts. The cumulative damage caused by blasting vibrations increases the extent and scope of the damage to coal and rock, and broken coal and rock provide weak surfaces and gas flow channels that can lead to dynamic gas disasters. The research results will provide a theoretical basis for gas dynamic disasters induced by blasting disturbance in normal fault structures. Based on cases of coal and gas outbursts in the Didaoshenghe Coal Mine in Heilongjiang Province, China, an important reason for such incidents is considered to be the blasting areas of normal faults being disturbed by air-powered coal drilling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate determination of coalbed methane (CBM) content is of great significance to coalmine methane prediction, methane extraction, and gas outburst prevention. The adsorption time affects the CBM content by affecting the Langmuir adsorption constants when using the indirect method to determine the CBM content. To determine the reasonable adsorption time, representative coal samples (anthracite, lean coal, and gas-fat coal) and different destruction types (soft coal and hard coal) were selected. The experimental methods used are mercury intrusion porosimetry test, N2 adsorption/desorption test, and methane isothermal adsorption test. The results show that the pore volume and the specific surface area obtained by the BJH method and BET model increase with increasing coal rank and destruction type. For anthracite soft and hard coal, lean soft coal, and gas-fat soft coal, the N2 adsorption/desorption hysteresis loop is not closed when the relative pressure is low, indicating the existence of ink-bottle pores in these coal samples. For all tested coal samples, the longer the adsorption time is, the larger of coal methane adsorption capacity, Langmuir constant a , and CBM content are. The Langmuir constant b decreased with increasing the adsorption time. Under the condition that the reliability of the measured value is 85%, the reasonable adsorption times of coal samples are 28 h for anthracite, 18 h for lean coal, and 9 h for gas-fat coal. This study has practical help to improve the determination of CBM content, the prediction of coal seam gas outburst, and the development of CBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increase in mining depth and production, the intensity and frequency of outburst of coal and gas have a tendency to increase. Estimating the intensity of outbursts of coal and gas plays an important role because of its relation with the risk value. In this paper, we described the semiquantitative relations between major parameters and intensity of outburst based on physical experiments. The results showed increment of geostress simulated by horizontal load (from 1.4,2.4,3.2, to 3.4 MPa) or vertical load (from 2,3, 3.6, to 4 MPa) improved the relative intensity rate (3.763-7.403% and 1.273-7.99%); the increment of porosity (from 1.57, 2.51, 3, to 3.6%) improved the relative intensity rate from 3.8 to 13.8%; the increment of gas pressure (from 0, 0.5, 0.65, 0.72,1, to 1.5 Mpa) induced the relative intensity rate to decrease from 38.22 to 0%; the increment of water content (from 0,2,4, to 8%) caused the relative intensity rate to drop from 5.425 to 0.5%. Furthermore, sensitivity and range analysis evaluates coupled factors affecting the relative intensity. In addition, the distinction with initiation of outburst of coal and gas affected by these parameters is discussed by the relative threshold of gas content rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the high gas pressure and low permeability of deep coal seam, it is difficult to control gas, which affects the safety production of coal mine. The technical scheme of hydraulic fracturing to improve the permeability of coal seam is put forward, and the gas drainage technology is used to control the gas emission of coal seam. The fracturing effect under different water pressure, different gradient fracturing times, and in situ stress is analyzed by using 3DEC (3-Dimensional Distinct Element Code) discrete element software. The simulation analysis and field verification results show that the coal seam gas pressure increases linearly with the buried depth. In situ stress characteristics and hydraulic strength are the key factors affecting the effect of hydraulic fracturing. The fracturing radius increases with the increase of flow. When the construction pressure of hydraulic fracturing test is 18 MPa, the distance between fracturing hole and drainage hole is 8.5 m. The actual measurement shows that after hydraulic fracturing and gas drainage, the maximum gas emission is reduced by 51%, and the average gas emission is reduced by 58%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing can increase the fracture of coal seams, improve the permeability in the coal seam, and reduce the risk of coal and gas outburst. Most of the existing experimental specimens are homogeneous, and the influence of the roof and floor on hydraulic fracture expansion is not considered. Therefore, the hydraulic fracturing test of the simulated combination of the coal seam and the roof and floor under different stress conditions was carried out using the self-developed true triaxial coal mine dynamic disaster large-scale simulation test rig. The results show that (1) under the condition of triaxial unequal pressure, the hydraulic fractures are vertical in the coal seam, and the extension direction of hydraulic fractures in the coal seam will be deflected, with the increase of the ratio of the horizontal maximum principal stress to the horizontal minimum principal stress. The angle between the extension direction of the hydraulic fracture and the horizontal maximum principal stress decreases. (2) Under the condition of triaxial equal confining pressure, the extension of hydraulic fractures in the coal seam are random, and the hydraulic fracture will expand along the dominant fracture surface and form a unilateral expansion fracture when a crack is formed. (3) When the pressure in one direction is unloaded under the condition of the triaxial unequal pressure, the hydraulic fractures in the coal seam will reorientate, and the cracks will expand in the direction of the decreased confining pressure, forming almost mutually perpendicular turning cracks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal and gas outbursts can lead to serious disasters in coal mines. The drilling of boreholes to predrain the gas is an effective measure for preventing such accidents. However, due to the complexity of the geological situation, the drilling trajectory often deviates from the design trajectory, resulting in poor gas extraction. To solve the problem of gas drainage borehole deflection, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model is established based on geological factors, technical factors, and human factors. The AHP model is used to rank the weights of various influencing factors, and the analysis is combined with a drilling model and engineering examples. Finally, the results show that soft and hard interlayers are the most important factors affecting the deflection of the borehole. The rock drilling model is mainly affected by the formation forces. The regularity of the change in the azimuth angle during drilling is not obvious when the angle of the encountered layer is less than some critical value. When the borehole is skewed downward, the deflection angle ranges from 0 to 4°, and the deflection of the borehole occurs mainly at the interface of the rock layers. When the angle of the encountered layer is greater than the critical value, the borehole is skewed upward, with a deflection angle of 0–6°, and the deflection occurs at the rock interface. The trajectory curve obtained by theoretical predictions from field data is found to be consistent with that of an actual project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essence of both rockburst and coal and gas outburst lies in fast energy release. In order to explore the energy action mechanism of coal and gas outburst induced by rockburst in rockburst and coal and gas outburst combined mines, the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) experimental device was firstly used to conduct uniaxial impact failure test of coal specimens prone to outburst under different strain rates, and their energy dissipation laws under impact loading were obtained. Next, under the engineering background of coal and gas dynamic phenomena induced by rockburst with different intensities in Xinyi Coal Mine and Pingdingshan Coal Group No. 12 Colliery in Henan Province and Dingji Coal Mine of Huainan Mining Group in Anhui Province, experimental study results were combined with numerical simulation analysis to discuss the energy mechanism of coal and gas outburst induced by rockburst. The study results show that the outburst can be divided into two different processes—critical outburst and outburst—according to the evolution law of outburst energy, and the critical energy conditions for coal and gas outburst are proposed. The minimum destructive energy range for the critical outburst of coal mass is obtained as (5–10) × 104 J/m3. Under some low gas, high stress, or strong disturbance conditions, applied loads can become the main energy sources causing critical failure and even crushing and throwing of coal mass. The coal mass will present an interval splitting structure under dynamic loading, which is obviously different from the failure mode of coal mass under static actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problems such as coal burst and abnormal gas overrun caused by the fracture of surrounding rock in the process of mining in the coal roadway, the ESG microseismic monitoring system is built on the driving face of 8005 transportation roadway of Wuyang Coal Mine to carry out a real-time, continuous, and omnidirectional dynamic state monitoring. In this way, the characteristics of time-frequency evolution and energy distribution of the acquired signals are systematically analyzed, and the location of the roadway microseismic events is studied. The results show the following: (1) influenced by mining activities, the localized microseismic events are mostly distributed in front and on both sides of the working face. Due to mining activities and geological changes, the equilibrium of original stress in coal and rock mass is broken. The stress thus is released accompanied by fracture before reaching a new equilibrium. (2) By comparing the coal and rock fracture signals with the interference signals, it is found that the fracture signals have short duration and large amplitude with obvious abrupt change characteristics. The interference signals have long duration and relatively small amplitude with less obvious change. (3) Fourier transform analysis shows that the main frequency of coal rock fracture signals is 100–200 Hz with large total energy concentrated in the first frequency band, while that of interference signals is mostly less than 100 Hz with small total energy. The research results can effectively identify the coal and rock dynamic disasters, provide technical support for the prediction and early warning of hidden danger, and guide the safe and efficient production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to deeply explore the destructive effect of the impulsive airflow on the mine antioutburst door when coal and gas outbursts occur in underground coal mines, a large-scale coal and gas outburst dynamic effect simulation experiment device is used to carry out the coal and gas outburst disaster simulation experiment. The impact load and deformation characteristics of the antioutburst door under the impact airflow during coal and gas outburst are analyzed, and the experimental results are discussed in depth through numerical simulation analysis and field example analysis. Based on this, the internal and external causes of the damage of the antioutburst door on the coal mine site are analyzed, the key technologies that need to be solved in the design of the antioutburst door's disaster resistance are studied, and the overall design of the structure optimization design of the antioutburst door is proposed. The research results show that after coal and gas outburst, the pressure on the antioutburst door will rise and fall, and the fluctuation will be greater. Under the same installation position, the farther the antioutburst door is from the protruding point, the less pressure it bears. In the middle and late stages of the outburst, intermittent negative pressure of the gas at the antioutburst door appeared. The key technologies for the design of the antioutburst door and its disaster resistance mainly include that strengthen theoretical and experimental research on the formation mechanism of outburst shock waves in mines, the interaction mechanism between disaster shock loads and dampers, and the magnitude of disaster expected shock loads; optimize the structure of the antioutburst door size, the width of the contact surface between the air door and the door wall, the stress distribution of the air door under impact load, the design of the safety hole, and the locking device; and improve the disaster monitoring and alarm capabilities of the antioutburst door and collect changes in antioutburst door pressure in real time. The research results provide a theoretical basis and technical support for the optimization of the antishock performance of underground antioutburst doors in coal mines and have important practical significance for improving the disaster resistance of the ventilation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aims to analyze the principles of integrated technology of explosion to tackle the problems of coal seam high gas content and pressure, developed faults, complex structure, low coal seam permeability, and high outburst risk. Based on this, we found through numerical simulation that as the inclination of the coal seam increases, the risk of coal and gas outburst increases during the tunneling process. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures to reduce the risk of coal and gas outburst. We conducted field engineering experiments. Our results show that the synergistic antireflection technology of hydraulic fracturing and deep-hole presplitting blasting has a significant antireflection effect in low-permeability coal seams. After implementing this technology, the distribution of coal moisture content was relatively uniform and improved the influence range of direction and tendency. Following 52 days of extraction, the average extraction concentration was 2.9 times that of the coal seam gas extraction concentration under the original technology. The average scalar volume of single hole gas extraction was increased by 7.7 times. Through field tests, the purpose of pressure relief and permeability enhancement in low-permeability coal seams was achieved. Moreover, the effect of gas drainage and treatment in low-permeability coal seams was improved, and the applicability, effectiveness, and safety of underground hydraulic fracturing and antireflection technology in low-permeability coal seams were verified. The new technique is promising for preventing and controlling gas hazards in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the increases in coal mining depths, the risk of coal seam outburst occurrences has increased. Therefore, it is of major significance to study the multiscale structures of soft and hard coal deposits in order to prevent and control the coal and gas outbursts. In this research investigation, soft and hard coal multiscale structures were comprehensively examined using various laboratory methods. The results revealed the following: (1) From a macrostructural aspect, the physical and mechanical properties of the soft coal were weaker than those of the hard coal. It was found that the majority of the examined specimens were characterized by scaly structures without blocks larger than 50 mm. The hard coal was observed to be mainly massive with only a small part being clastic. Therefore, the structural characteristics were considered to be stable. (2) From a microstructural perspective, the surfaces of the soft coal specimens were observed to be rough. The pores were found to be more developed, with the edge of pores being mainly hackly. At the same time, fractures were also relatively developed, showing good connectivity. (3) From a micropore structural perspective, it was found that the BET-specific surface areas and BJH-specific surface areas of the soft coal specimens were higher than those of the hard coal specimens, which indicated that the gas adsorption and diffusion migration abilities of the soft coal were greater than those of the hard coal. (4) It was suggested from the study results that the ventilation and gas extraction processes should be strengthened in the mining activities of coal seams with high, soft stratification content. At the same time, the methods used for water injection modification should be enhanced in order to improve the mechanical stability of soft coal. Consequently, the instantaneous released gases will be decelerated, and the occurrences of coal and gas outburst events in mine working faces can be prevented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problem of coal and gas outburst prevention and control in serious outburst dangerous coal seam under complex geological conditions in Qidong Coal Mine, the water jet drilling and expanding integrated device was used to implement the measures that expand holes and increase permeability by high-pressure water at a 912 working face. The experimental results show that when the pump pressure is between 13 MPa and 15 MPa, the particle size of pulverized coal can be effectively reduced and the discharge of pulverized coal can be increased. The coal output of a single hole is 0.8~2.3 t/m, with an average of 1.1 m/t. The unreamed conventional borehole has a single-hole initial gas drainage rate of 50.74 m3/d and a single-hole cumulative gas drainage rate of 736.12 m3 within 30 days. The initial single-hole gas drainage volume of the reaming borehole is 178.74 m3/d, and the cumulative single-hole gas drainage volume in 30 days is 2227.57 m3. After reaming, the initial gas drainage scalar of a single hole increases 3.52 times of the original unreamed conventional drilling and the average cumulative gas drainage scalar of a single hole reaches 3.03 times of the original unreamed conventional drilling. This technology and equipment have a good promotion and application value in gas treatment of soft, low-permeable coal seams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas outburst is an important issue in deep coal mining. At present, the gas-rock coupling change mechanism and intensity prediction of gas outburst are not clear. The research of gas outburst simulation experiment is particularly important. The State Key Laboratory of Gas Disaster Monitoring and Emergency Technology of China independently developed a large-scale coal and gas outburst physical simulation test system. However, the influence of the design parameters of the testing machine on the stability and accuracy of the simulation experiment is unclear. The article analyzes the energy conversion in the process of gas outburst through experimental simulation phenomena and results. The experimental simulation results show that the energy released by the CO2 gas in similar materials is the most important energy source. The cracks of similar materials increase the nominal volume of similar materials, and the deformation energy stored in similar materials slightly increases. The experimental simulation results are consistent with the actual situation on site. Combined with CAE simulation analysis, the displacement and pressure of the indenter of the experimental machine remained basically unchanged during the experiment, and the system did not produce resonance. Comprehensive analysis shows that the design of the test machine meets the simulation requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the mountain tunnel projects passing through the complex formation with coal, it happened along with disaster accidents such as gas outburst, gas combustion, and gas explosion. These disasters should seriously threaten the safety and life of the construction personnel and affect the normal operation of the tunnel construction. Ventilation is the most effective means to control gas, fire, dust, heat, and other disasters. To study the effects of different ventilation modes in highway gas tunnels, Fluent software was used to simulate forced ventilation, exhaust ventilation, and mixed ventilation in a high gas tunnel of a highway in Hunan. The distribution law of the airflow velocity and gas concentration of these three ventilation modes were obtained to determine the optimal ventilation system. It was shown that vortex zones of different ranges formed in the tunnel for all three ventilation modes, and the gas concentration was higher in the vortex zone than in other regions. Mixed ventilation of them is superior to the other two modes, showing the best ventilation effect with regard to airflow velocity and gas concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal seam water injection is an important technical method to prevent and control coal and gas outburst and other disasters. Water can soften coal and change its mechanical properties. In order to study the mechanical properties of coal samples with different moisture content, briquette coal samples with five moistures content (4%, 6%, 8%, 10%, and 12%) were selected to carry out triaxial compression tests under different confining pressures (0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 MPa). Then, the mechanical response mechanism of the water-bearing briquette coal was analyzed. The results show that the slope of the linear elastic stage of the stress-strain curve gradually decreases with the increase of moisture content. Water-bearing coal exhibits strain strengthening characteristics under high confining pressure, which transforms the water-bearing coal from brittle to ductile state. The peak stress under different moisture content conditions shows a linear relationship with the confining pressure. The internal friction angle decreases linearly with the increase of moisture content. The cohesion varies parabolically with the increase of moisture content and reaches the maximum value when the moisture content is 8%. The coal body with moisture content between 7% and 9% has a high bonding force, which is beneficial to the consolidation of the coal body. Therefore, ensuring a reasonable moisture content of coal through coal seam injection can provide a basis for preventing coal and gas outburst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep coal mining is seriously affected by a combined dynamic disaster of rock burst and coal and gas outburst, but the influence mechanism of gas on this combined dynamic disaster is still not very clear, which is significantly different from the single type disasters. In this study, to explore the effect of gas on the coal-rock burst, a novel gas-solid coupling loading apparatus is designed to realize gas adsorption of coal sample with burst proneness and provide uniaxial loading environment under different gas pressure. A series of uniaxial compression tests of gas-containing coal with different gas pressure is carried out, and the energy dissipation process is monitored by an acoustic emission (AE) system. Results show that the macroscopic volume strain of the coal sample increases as gas adsorption and gas pressure increase under constant uniaxial loading pressure. Gas has the ability to expand the pores and natural fractures in coal sample by mechanical and physicochemical effects, which leads to a degradation in microstructure integrity of coal sample. With the increase of gas pressure, both the macrouniaxial compression strength (UCS) and elastic modulus show a downward trend; the UCS and elastic modulus of coal samples with 2 MPa gas pressure reduce by 58.78% and 48.82%, respectively, compared to those of the original coal samples. The main reason is that gas changes the pore-fissure structure and the mesoscopic stress environment inside the coal sample. Owing to the gas, the accumulated elastic energy of the gas-containing coal samples before failure reduces significantly, whereas the energy dissipated during loading increases, and the energy release process in the postpeak stage is smoother, indicating the participation of gas weakens the burst proneness of the coal sample. This study is of important scientific value for revealing the mechanism of combined dynamic disaster and the critical occurrence conditions of coal-rock burst and coal and gas outburst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal adsorption/desorption gas can cause temperature changes. Moreover, the pressure difference between the high gas pressure area and the low gas pressure area in the coal may affect the coal adsorption/desorption gas thermal effect. To study the effect of adsorption/desorption thermal effect on the evolution law of coal and gas outburst precursor information under different pressure differences, the adsorption/desorption thermal effect experiments were carried out. And the thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling model was established, which reflects the interaction between coal and gas. Under the action of ground stress, pore pressure, adsorption expansion stress, and thermal expansion stress, the model includes the dynamic evolution of coal porosity and permeability, gas adsorption-desorption-diffusion-seepage, and energy accumulation and dissipation. Using the coupling model, the mechanism of adsorption/desorption thermal effect on the evolution of outburst precursor information and the mutual coupling relation between coal and gas is analyzed. The experimental results show that the relation between pressure difference and coal sample temperature variation is linear, and the pressure difference has a quadratic parabolic relation with the temperature accumulation of coal sample. As the pressure difference increases, the temperature variation of the coal sample gradually increases, but the temperature accumulation gradually decreases. Numerical simulation results show that as the pressure difference increases, the changes in coal temperature and gas pressure gradually decrease, and the thermal expansion strain caused by the adsorption/desorption thermal effect decreases, and the permeability increases. Comparing the calculation results with or without the adsorption/desorption thermal effect, the volumetric strain, temperature, and permeability of the coal have significant changes when the adsorption/desorption thermal effect is considered, and the gas drainage volume increases as the pressure difference increases. The effect of thermal expansion strain caused by adsorption/desorption thermal effect on gas seepage is greater than the effect of temperature change on gas seepage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal and gas outburst is an important risk faced by coal seam mining in the Huainan region of China. In order to control gas outburst, the gas is predrained by digging a floor gas drainage roadway. To study deformation due to dynamic pressure, the failure characteristics of the floor, and their effect on the stability of the floor gas drainage roadway, a comprehensive monitoring method combining Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry- (BOTDR-) distributed fiber optics and self-potential exploration was adopted. Dynamic data monitoring of the rock strata between the 11123 working face floor and the floor gas drainage roadway of a mine in Huainan was carried out. The field data obtained showed that, when stabilized by rock bolts and other fixed components in the surrounding rock mass of the floor gas drainage roadway, under the influence of mining, the area of concentrated stress appeared at a depth of 20.7 m, when cracks eventually formed, but the overall structural stability of the surrounding rock mass remained good. The stress distribution and crack evolution of the bottom plate under the influence of dynamic pressure showed spatiotemporal characteristics. Of these, the effect of the lead support stress was 107.48 m, and the range of effect of the hysteresis stress was 34.42 m. When the working face mining position arrives and is far from the monitoring station, the failure depth of floor rock stratum shows the following rule: unchanged in the early stage, deepened continuously in the middle stage, and finally remained stable. It takes about eight days for the dynamic adjustment of this process to finally stabilize. The results of this study can provide guidance for devising suitable procedures for carrying out intelligent green safety mining and for warning about the hazards of roadway damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the influence of deep high stress, geothermal heat, and other factors, the law of desorption of methane in coal seams is more complicated in the process of mining deep coal seams, which is prone to methane over-limit, coal and gas outburst, and other accidents. In order to study the desorption characteristics of coalbed methane under different loading and temperature conditions, the desorption tests at different deformation stages of coal containing methane were carried out in the process of loading-adsorption-desorption-reloading until the coal sample was destroyed by using the seepage-adsorption-desorption test system on coal and rock mass, and the test programs were different combinations of gas pressure 1.2 MPa, two kinds of confining pressure, and three kinds of temperature. The results show that the cumulative methane desorption amount corresponding to each deformation stage presents a convex parabolic increase trend with the increase in desorption time, while the desorption rate presents a power function decay trend. Under the condition of the same desorption time, the cumulative methane desorption amount from large to small is residual deformation stage, compaction stage, near the peak stress, plastic deformation stage, and elastic deformation stage. Under the same confining pressure, temperature, and methane pressure, the maximum desorption rate from large to small is residual deformation stage, near the peak stress, plastic deformation stage, compaction stage, and elastic deformation stage. The desorption and diffusion of methane are promoted under the higher temperature and lower confining pressure, which presents a certain mechanism of promoting desorption. The thermal movement of methane molecules is intensified with the increase in temperature, and the adsorption effect between methane molecules and the molecules at the surface of the coal is weakened. The cumulative methane desorption amount and the maximum desorption rate increase with the increase in temperature. The cumulative methane desorption in the residual deformation stage is obviously greater than that in other deformation stages. The increase in confining pressure inhibits the development and expansion of pore fractures in raw coal specimen and hinders the increase in the effective desorption surface area. The cumulative methane desorption amount and the maximum desorption rate decrease with the increase in confining pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compound dynamic disaster of coal and gas outbursts and rockburst is a typical hazard jeopardizing the mining of the high gas content coal seam under a hard roof condition. In this study, the hard roof's mechanism inducing this hazard is analyzed. Physical analog modeling experiments and in situ monitoring of mining-induced stress were performed during coal seam mining under a hard roof condition. The pattern of hard roof breakage effect on the stress-fissure field evolution was revealed. The elastic energy was released and propagated on both sides immediately after the hard roof breaking, leading to energy accumulation. Meanwhile, expansive roof collapse resulted in the intense weighting of the working face and rockburst. Thus, the coal and gas outburst occurred under the joint action of the impact energy generated by breaking the hard roof and gas expansion energy. In other words, the compound dynamic disaster happened. Synergistic stereoextraction integrating cross-seam drilling and along-seam drilling was combined with deep hole advanced presplitting blasting technology to cope with the compound dynamic disaster in the high gas coal seam under a hard roof condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]