Fracture Evolution of Overburden Strata and Determination of Gas Drainage Area Induced by Mining Disturbance

Yuchu Cai, Shugang Li (), Xiangguo Kong (), Xu Wang, Pengfei Ji, Songrui Yang, Xi Lin, Di He and Yuxuan Zhou
Additional contact information
Yuchu Cai: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China
Shugang Li: College of Safety Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China
Xiangguo Kong: College of Safety Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China
Xu Wang: Shandong Anke Xingye Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., Jinan 250002, China
Pengfei Ji: College of Safety Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China
Songrui Yang: College of Safety Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China
Xi Lin: College of Safety Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China
Di He: College of Safety Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China
Yuxuan Zhou: College of Safety Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Overburden strata fracture evolution is critical to dynamic disaster prevention and gas-relief drainage, so it is important to accurately determine the evolution relationships with mining disturbance. In this paper, experiments and numerical simulation were adopted jointly to characterize the time-varying fracture area of overlying strata. The experimental results showed that the roof strata gradually broke and collapsed with coal mining, which indicated the fractures of overburden strata developed in an upward direction. The fracture development causes were explained by numerical simulation, which showed that stress increase exceeded the strength of coal and rock strata, and fractures were formed and expanded. Both experiments and numerical simulation results showed the two sides and the top of fracture areas provided channels and spaces for gas migration and reservoir, respectively. In addition, the breaking angle of overburden strata and the height of fracture areas were analyzed quantitatively. Through microseismic monitoring at the mining site, the fracture scales and ranges of overburden strata were verified by the energy and frequency of microseismic events, which were consistent with the support of maximum resistance. The position of drainage boreholes was considered based on the results of overburden strata fracture evolution. Our study is aimed at promoting coal mining in safety and improving gas drainage with a sustainable approach.

Keywords: fracture evolution; mining disturbance; experimental analysis; numerical simulation; microseismic response (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/2152/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/2152/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:3:p:2152-:d:1045112

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().