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Mechanical Behavior of Methane Infiltrated Coal: the Roles of Gas Desorption, Stress Level and Loading Rate

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Abstract

We report laboratory experiments to investigate the role of gas desorption, stress level and loading rate on the mechanical behavior of methane infiltrated coal. Two suites of experiments are carried out. The first suite of experiments is conducted on coal (Lower Kittanning seam, West Virginia) at a confining stress of 2 MPa and methane pore pressures in the fracture of 1 MPa to examine the role of gas desorption. These include three undrained (hydraulically closed) experiments with different pore pressure distributions in the coal, namely, overpressured, normally pressured and underpressured, and one specimen under drained condition. Based on the experimental results, we find quantitative evidence that gas desorption weakens coal through two mechanisms: (1) reducing effective stress controlled by the ratio of gas desorption rate over the drainage rate, and (2) crushing coal due to the internal gas energy release controlled by gas composition, pressure and content. The second suite of experiments is conducted on coal (Upper B seam, Colorado) at confining stresses of 2 and 4 MPa, with pore pressures of 1 and 3 MPa, under underpressured and drained condition with three different loading rates to study the role of stress level and loading rate. We find that the Biot coefficient of coal specimens is <1. Reducing effective confining stress decreases the elastic modulus and strength of coal. This study has important implications for the stability of underground coal seams.

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Acknowledgments

This work is a partial result of funding by NIOSH under contract 200-2008-25702, and the National Science Foundation under Grant EAR- 0842134. This support is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Co-Editor Herbert Einstein and two anonymous reviewers for valuable suggestions that helped improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, G3 Center and Energy Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 230 Hosler Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Shugang Wang & Derek Elsworth

  2. School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia

    Jishan Liu

Authors
  1. Shugang Wang
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  2. Derek Elsworth
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  3. Jishan Liu
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Correspondence to Shugang Wang.

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Wang, S., Elsworth, D. & Liu, J. Mechanical Behavior of Methane Infiltrated Coal: the Roles of Gas Desorption, Stress Level and Loading Rate. Rock Mech Rock Eng 46, 945–958 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-012-0324-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-012-0324-0

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