Deformation and seepage properties of raw coal during the simultaneous loading and unloading of axial stress and confining pressure

The mining of coal resources causes the stress on the front and both sides of the working face to be in a complex loading and unloading process, and the gas contained in the coal body migrates, which can cause gasdynamic disasters in severe cases. Therefore, this study designed a three-dimensional stress path based on the in situ stress distribution characteristics of the No. 2461 working face and conducted the experiment on the deformation and seepage characteristics of raw coal under simultaneous unloading (loading) axial stress and loading (unloading) confining pressure. It is considered that in the process of loading axial stress, the volumetric strain increases gradually with the increase in effective stress, and the permeability decreases exponentially with the increase in effective stress. In the process of simultaneous unloading axial stress and loading confining pressure, the volumetric strain of coal sample increases with the increase in effective stress, and the permeability decreases exponentially with the increase in effective stress. However, the processes of simultaneous loading axial stress and unloading confining pressure are opposite, and the variation curves of the two do not overlap, indicating that the coal sample undergoes elastic-plastic deformation after cyclic loading, the permeability cannot be restored to the initial state, and the volumetric strain further expands. The permeability damage rate and maximum permeability damage rate are used to evaluate the recovery degree and reduction range of coal samples' permeability. The volume expansion rate and maximum volume expansion rate are used to evaluate the expansion degree and increase range of coal samples' volume. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

Automated summary

The study found that the volumetric strain gradually increases and permeability exponentially decreases with the increase in effective stress during loading axial stress. In the process of simultaneous unloading axial stress and loading confining pressure, the volumetric strain of coal sample increases while the permeability decreases exponentially with the increase in effective stress.