Jingyu Jiang

Experimental Study of Coal and Gas Outbursts Related to Gas-Enriched Areas

A coal and gas outburst can lead to a catastrophic failure in a coal mine. These outbursts usually occur where the distribution of coal seam gas is abnormal, commonly in tectonic belts. To study the effects of the abnormal distribution of this gas on outbursts, an experimental apparatus to collect data on simulated coal seam outbursts was constructed. Experiments on specimens containing discrete gas-enriched areas were run to induce artificial gas outbursts and further study of these outbursts using data from the experiment was conducted. The results suggest that more gas and outburst energy are contained in gas-enriched areas and this permits these areas to cause an outburst easily, even though the gas pressure in them is lower. During mining, the disappearance of the sealing effect of a coal pillar establishes the occurrence conditions for an outburst. When the enriched gas and outburst energy in the gas-enriched area is released suddenly, a reverse unloading wave and a high gas pressure gradient are formed, which have tension effects on the coal. Under these effects, the fragmentation degree of the coal intensifies and the intensity of the outburst increases. Because a high gas pressure gradient is maintained near the exposed surface and the enriched energy release reduces the coal strength, the existence of a gas-enriched area in coal leads to a faster outburst and the average thickness of the spall is smaller than where is no gas-enriched area.

Quantitative investigation on the structural characteristics of thermally metamorphosed coal: evidence from multi-spectral analysis technology

The macromolecule structural characteristics of thermally metamorphosed bituminous coals (TMBC) are very significant to understand the thermal evolution history of coal basin and coal organic maturation. However, the relevant information is still limited. Here, four TMBC, selected from Daxing coal mine, Liaoning province, China, were investigated by using varied modern tools including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy to expound the effect of igneous intrusions on their chemical structures. Results indicate that the studied TMBC are characterized as turbostratic structures, composing of crystalline carbon assorted with varying amounts of disordered amorphous carbon. An increase in agglomeration degree of molecular structure in TMBC was observed with the increase in coal ranks. In addition, the strong contact metamorphism imposed on indigenous coal has created new pores and fractures examined by scanning electron microscope, which facilitate the drainage of coal bed methane in coal mines.