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Evolution of Mechanical and Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Coal Samples Under Different Immersion Heights

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Abstract

The water level in a coal mine underground reservoir fluctuates dynamically, causing coal pillar dams to be damaged by varying immersion heights, adversely affecting their mechanical qualities and structural stability. In this study, the evolution of mechanical and acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of coal samples under different immersion heights was investigated. The coal samples were first saturated at 1/10, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 immersion heights. Thereafter, uniaxial compression and AE mechanics experiments were conducted. The results showed that the time required to match the same moisture content decreased as immersion height increased. Similarly, the post-peak ductile damage, peak stress, and elastic modulus of saturated coal samples also showed decreasing trends, whereas the peak strain showed an increasing trend. Crack closure, initiation, and damage stress thresholds also decreased exponentially with increasing immersion heights. The AE count correlation dimension D exhibited sudden fluctuations (sudden drop and rise) accompanied by increases in the proportion of low-frequency signals. The increasing patterns in low-frequency and high-amplitude signals can be used as a precursor to damage in coal samples at different immersion heights, as indicated by the sudden fluctuation in the AE count correlation dimension. These results provide theoretical guidance to maintain the stability of coal pillar dams in underground reservoirs.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 51874283. The corresponding author also recognizes the financial support provided by the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 202206420054). We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing. We are very grateful to the editors and three anonymous reviewers for their kind and invaluable comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mines, China University of Mining and Technology, No.1 Daxue Rd, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Qiangling Yao, Chuangkai Zheng, Xiaobei Shang, Lun Yan, Changhao Shan & Wei Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Deep Coal Resource Mining (CUMT), Ministry of Education, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Qiangling Yao, Chuangkai Zheng, Xiaobei Shang, Lun Yan, Changhao Shan & Wei Wang

  3. Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, Penryn, TR10 9DF, UK

    Chuangkai Zheng

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  1. Qiangling Yao
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Correspondence to Chuangkai Zheng.

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Yao, Q., Zheng, C., Shang, X. et al. Evolution of Mechanical and Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Coal Samples Under Different Immersion Heights. Nat Resour Res 32, 2273–2288 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-023-10242-z

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