Abstract
Fractures generated in the overlying rock of coalfield fire areas can develop into air leakage and oxygen supply channels, thus helping sustain and intensify the fire. However, the formation, evolution, and distribution of such fractures are complex. This study used physical similarity simulation and numerical simulation to analyse the formation and evolution process of the underground coal field fire area at the Tanyaoqu coalmine. The first air leakage and oxygen supply channel in a coal fire area is formed when the overlying rock fractures reach the surface. The average collapse step distance of overlying rock after the formation of the first air leakage and oxygen supply channel in the research area was approximately two times that before. The length of the main fracture in the overlying rock increased gradually with coal combustion temperature. The angle between the main fracture and the horizontal plane decreased as temperature increased before the formation of the first channel and increased with temperature after the formation. When the coal combustion temperature was 600, 800, and 1000 °C, the distances from the coal seam damage position to the first air leakage and oxygen supply channel position are 122.7, 114.7, and 103.1 m, respectively.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
References
Bieniawaski ZT (1968) The effect of specimen size on compression strength in coal. Int J Rock Mech Min 5:325–333
Cao DY, Fan XJ, Wu CC, Wang GL (2009) Study on the fractures related with coalfield fire area in Wuda coalfield, Inner Mongolia. J China Coal Soc 34:1009–1014 (In Chinese)
Cui F, Chong J, Lai XP, Yang YB, Dong S (2020) Study on the law of fracture evolution under repeated mining of close-distance coal seams. Energies 13:6064
Finkelman RB (2004) Potential health impacts of burning coal beds and waste banks. Int J Coal Geol 59:19–24
Hettema MHH, Niepce DV, Wolf KHAA (1999) A microstructural analysis of the compaction of claystone aggregate at high temperature. Int J Rock Mech Min 36:57–68
Hobbs DW (1964) The strength and stress-strain characteristics of coal in triaxial compression. J Geol 72:214–231
Ide TS, Pollard D, Orr FM Jr (2010) Fissure formation and subsurface subsidence in a coalbed fire. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 47(1):81–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmms.2009.05.007
Jennifer ME (2013) The effect of abundant precipitation on coal fire subsidence and its implications in Centralia, PA. Int J Coal Geol 105:110–119
Jiao YY, Zhang XL, Zhang HQ, Li HB, Yang SQ, Li JC (2015) A coupled thermo-mechanical discontinuum model for simulating rock cracking induced by temperature stresses. Comput Geotech 67:142–149
Kuenzer C, Stracher GB (2012) Geomorphology of coal seam fires. Geomorphology 138:209–222
Liang YC, Liang HD, Zhu SQ (2014) Mercury emission from coal seam fire at Wuda, Inner Mongolia, China. Atmos Environ 83:176–184
Liu XS, Tan YL, Ning JG, Lu YW, Gu QH (2018) Mechanical properties and damage constitutive model of coal in coal-rock combined body. Int J Rock Mech Min 110:140–150
Ma JH, Hou C, Hou JT (2021) Numerical and similarity simulation study on the protection effect of composite protective layer mining with gently inclined thick coal seam. Shock Vib 2021:1–15
Miao ST, Pan PZ, Zhao XG, Shao CY, Yu PY (2021) Experimental study on damage and fracture characteristics of Beishan granite subjected to high-temperature treatment with DIC and AE techniques. Rock Mech Rock Eng 54:721–743
Pone JDN, Hein KAA, Stracher GB, Annegarn HJ, Finkleman RB, Blake DR, McCormack JK, Schroeder P (2007) The spontaneous combustion of coal and its by-products in the Witbank and Sasolburg coalfields of South Africa. Int J Coal Geol 72:124–140
Stracher GB, Taylor TP (2004) Coal fires burning out of control around the world: thermodynamic recipe for environmental catastrophe. Int J Coal Geol 59:7–17
Wessling S, Kuenzer C, Kessels W, Wuttke MW (2008) Numerical modeling for analyzing thermal surface anomalies induced by underground coal fires. Int J Coal Geol 74:175–184
Wolf KH, Bruining H (2007) Modelling the interaction between underground coal fires and their roof rocks. Fuel 86:2761–2777
Wu JJ, Liu XC (2011) Risk assessment of underground coal fire development at regional scale. Int J Coal Geol 86:87–94
Xia M (2015) Thermo-mechanical coupled particle model for rock. Trans Nonferrous Met Soc China 25:2367–2379
Xiao WJ, Zhang DM, Yang H, Li XM, Ye ML, Li SJ (2021) Laboratory investigation of the temperature influence on the mechanical properties and fracture crack distribution of rock under uniaxial compression test. Bull Eng Geol Env 80:1585–1598
Yang DM, Sarhosis V, Sheng Y (2014) Thermal–mechanical modelling around the cavities of underground coal gasification. J Energy Inst 87(4):321–329
Yang SQ, Chen M, Fang G, Wang YC, Meng B, Li YH, Jing HW (2018) Physical experiment and numerical modelling of tunnel excavation in slanted upper-soft and lower-hard strata. Tunn Undergr Sp Tech 82:248–264
Ye Q, Wang G, Jia ZZ, Zheng CS, Wang WJ (2018) Similarity simulation of mining-crack-evolution characteristics of overburden strata in deep coal mining with large dip. J Pet Sci Eng 165:477–487
Zhang DM, Qi XH, Yin GZ, Zheng BB (2013) Coal and rock fissure evolution and distribution characteristics of multi-seam mining. Int J Min Sci Technol 23:835–840
Zhang GJ, Li QS, Zhang Y, Du F (2021) Failure characteristics of roof in working face end based on stress evolution of goaf. Geomech Geophys Geol 7:53
Zhang JC, Li XL, Qin QZ, Wang YB, Gao X (2023) Study on overlying strata movement patterns and mechanisms in super-large mining height stopes. Bull Eng Geol Env 82:142
Zhou LF, Zhang DR, Wang J, Huang ZQ, Pan DL (2013) Mapping land subsidence related to underground coal fires in the Wuda Coalfield (Northern China) using a small stack of ALOS PALSAR differential interferograms. Remote Sens 5:1152–1176
Zhu WS, Li Y, Li SC, Wang SG, Zhang QB (2011) Quasi-three-dimensional physical model tests on a cavern complex under high in-situ stresses. Int J Rock Mech Min 48:199–209
Funding
This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51974233 and 51904232).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Yang Xiao: conceptualisation, methodology, supervision, and writing with review and editing. Qun Shi: experimental tests, software, and writing with original draft. Kun-Hua Liu: methodology and software. Qing-Wei Li: supervision and writing with review and editing. Zhen-Ping Wang: writing with review and editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Xiao, Y., Shi, Q., Liu, KH. et al. The evolution characteristics of fractures in overlying rock for underground coal fires. Bull Eng Geol Environ 82, 290 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03321-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03321-1