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Microseismic (MS) events generated during coal and rock hydraulic fracturing (HF) include wet events caused by fracturing fluid injection, in addition to dry events caused by stress perturbations. The mixture of these two events makes effective fracturing MS events pickup difficult. This study is based on physical experiments of different coal and rock HF and uniaxial compression. The differences of waveform characteristic parameters of various coal and rock ruptures were analyzed using the Hilbert–Huang transform, leading to some useful conclusions. The phase characteristics of the acoustic emission (AE) energy differed significantly and responded well to the pumping pressure curve. The AE waveforms of HF exhibit similar energy and frequency distribution characteristics after Empirical mode decomposition. The main frequency bands for coal, sandstone, and shale samples are 100–300 kHz, while the mudstone sample is in the range of 50–150 kHz. The decay ratios for coal, sandstone, shale and mudstone samples are 0.78, 0.83, 0.67 and 0.85, respectively. When compared to the uniaxial compression test, the main frequency bands of HF were reduced for coal, sandstone and mudstone samples, whereas shale remained essentially unchanged. The duration, instantaneous energy, and total energy of the HF waveform are smaller than those of uniaxial compression, while the decay ratio is greater, especially for the mudstone samples. The waveform characteristic parameters, trained using the multilayer perceptron neural network, can effectively identify HF and uniaxial compression events with an accuracy of 96%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the influence of lithology on the microseismic response mechanism during the process of coal and rock hydraulic fracturing (HF), we selected four lithological samples of coal, sandstone, shale, and mudstone, which are commonly found in coal-measure strata. The acoustic emission (AE) cumulative counts, AE energy, crack classification, AE peak frequency, and AE position of the four samples under natural conditions were studied, and the laws of crack propagation and evolution in the process of coal and rock HF were explained. We discovered the phenomenon of "bimodal frequency bands" during the HF of coal and rock samples. The results showed that the pressure curves and AE cumulative counts of the coal samples exhibited the largest fluctuations. The power-law distribution of AE energy has a discrete effect in the high-energy region and a plateau effect in the low-energy region. The AE energy power-law indexes of the mudstone samples are the largest, with the values of 0.64 and 0.61, whereas those of the shale samples are the smallest, with the values of 0.44 and 0.45. The crack classification of the samples of coal is mainly shear cracks, and the crack classification of the samples of sandstone, shale and mudstone is mainly tensile cracks. It is proposed to regard frequency band II as the dominant frequency band for HF in the coal, sandstone, and mudstone samples and frequency band I as the dominant frequency band for HF in shale samples. Highlights: The phenomenon of "bimodal frequency bands" during hydraulic fracturing of coal and rock samples was discovered. The AE energy power-law indexes and damage patterns during hydraulic fracturing of coal and rock were revealed. The dominant frequency bands of different coal and rock rupture were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Key MFCC factors for limestone and coal distinction was identified. • Mechanics behind MFCC's differentiation of AE in rocks was clarified. • Rock fracture mechanics was revealed by AE parameters. Fractures in the rock surrounding karst caves can result in substantial surface subsidence, especially in mining areas with abundant carbonate rocks. Acoustic emission (AE) is a crucial signal associated with rock fracture mechanics and lithology. This study aimed to distinguish the AE features between coal and limestone using the MFCC-based method and universal AE analysis method in conjunction with uniaxial compression tests. The results indicated that the MFCC-4–6 of AE could distinguish between coal and limestone prior to rock failure. The MFCC-1–6 of limestone exhibited a tail-like pattern change on the stress sawtooth and a step-like pattern change after reaching peak stress. The fluctuation degree of MFCC-2–5 exhibited an initial transition from small to large, followed by a subsequent transition from large to small, reaching its maximum value during the elastic deformation stage. Additionally, the power law distribution index of AE energy in the magnitude range of 102–104 for coal was larger than that for limestone. The AE events in coal were mainly characterized by shear fractures, while limestone exhibited more tension fractures than coal, as indicated by the AF/RA analysis. Furthermore, the lower the AE peak frequency, the larger the scale of fracturing in coal and limestone. These findings are valuable for ground control and early warning of rock failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing can evidently improve the coalbed methane production in underground coal mines, but it is difficult to delimit the stimulated area accurately. In order to evaluate the stimulated area, microseismic (MS) monitoring technique is proposed to investigate the seismic responses of the induced fractures of hydraulic fracturing. Three coal seams were targeted to be treated in a coal mine. An array of geophones was set along the underground roadway to detect the MS signals caused by HF. In order to verify the result of MS monitoring, water content of each coal seam has been measured before and after HF treatment. The results showed that a series of MS events were detected during the entire HF process, and a sharp MS event usually occurred during the first hour of HF process. The energy of the sharp MS event had higher magnitude than others. The MS distribution exhibited complex morphological features. The directionless MS response was distributed over a radius of less than 40 m but tended to be significantly conjugated with a radius of more than 40 m. HF could stimulate both the coal seam and the rock layers nearby. The achievable stimulated area in the coal seam was determined to be 50 m × 50 m according to the MS density and water content. The stimulated area in terms of MS density was easily found to be broader than the area of water direct intrusion. The present study indicated that MS monitoring technique could potentially be used for evaluation of HF in underground coal mine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing is an effective method to improve the permeability of coal seams and enhance extraction of coalbed methane (CBM). Evolution of cracks in coal seam becomes increasingly complex when one borehole is drilled through multiple coal seams. In this work, physical models with two coal seams having different uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) ratios and height ratios were prepared to study the competitive initiation and extension of cracks based on pump pressure, acoustic emission (AE) source location, and crack morphology. The results showed that, a competitive relationship exists between the two coal seams in terms of crack extension. The pump pressure curves of all specimens presented four stages: (I) fluid-filling stage, (II) pressure rise stage, (III) pressure drop stage, and (IV) pressure stabilization stage. Compared with the pure specimen, the crack initiation pressure of specimens with two coal seams reduced generally. The AE source locations were first generated and mainly distributed in the softer coal seam, resulting in the formation of a complex crack network, whereas only a few cracks were generated in the harder coal seam, as observed after cutting the specimens. In seams with different height ratios, the AE source locations and tracers indicated that cracks preferentially developed and extended in the thinner coal seam. The higher the height ratio of the two coal seams, the more difficult it was for cracks to extend simultaneously in two coal seams. The research results will help improve the permeability of CBM reservoirs when subjecting multiple coal seams to hydraulic fracturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]