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The Stress Sensitivity and Porosity Sensitivity of Coal Permeability at Different Depths: A Case Study in the Pingdingshan Mining Area

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Abstract

Determining the relationships among the stress, porosity and permeability of coal masses at different depths is a key problem in coalbed methane extraction and greenhouse gas storage. In this study, we successfully conducted porosity and permeability experiments under different depth-dependent hydrostatic stress conditions using coal samples collected from the same coal seam group but at five different depths in the Pingdingshan mining area. The porosity, permeability, stress sensitivity and porosity sensitivity of the coal at different depths were analyzed, and the results showed that the coal porosity at different depths (300–1050 m) ranged from 0.15 to 0.50% and that the coal permeability ranged from 5 × 10−4 to 3 × 10−3 mD. The porosities and permeabilities of the coal samples collected from different depths decreased according to negative exponential functions as the effective stress increased. The porosity, permeability, porosity sensitivity and stress sensitivity of the coal mass at depths from 300 to 1050 m initially increased with depth and then decreased at depths greater than 600–700 m; this behavior is different from the conventional understanding in which the porosity and permeability of a coal mass decrease continuously with the depth. The stress sensitivity of the coal is also stress-dependent and clearly increases when the effective stress in the coal mass is less than 10 MPa. The porosity and stress sensitivities of the coal are directly associated with the initial porosity and physical properties of the coal. The depth effect on the porosity and stress sensitivities of the coal permeability is closely related to specific coal fracture compression properties at different depths. A coal mass with a high porosity and a correspondingly low density typically has high porosity and stress sensitivities, as supported by the experimental results and theoretical analyses.

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Abbreviations

a :

Fracture spacing, m

b :

Fracture aperture, m

A ad :

Mass percentage of water, %

A r :

Real contact area, m2

A a :

Apparent or nominal area, m2

C pσ :

Compressibility of coal pores, MPa−1

d :

Separation between the mean planes of two surfaces, m

D :

Fractal dimension, dimensionless

H :

Depth, m

k :

Permeability, mD

K :

Lateral pressure coefficient, dimensionless

m :

Division number of initial cubic element side, dimensionless

M ad :

Mass percentage of ash, %

n :

Fracture amount, dimensionless

p :

Gas pressure, MPa

P :

Compression load, kN

r :

Observational scale, m

R :

Permeability damage rate, dimensionless

S kσ :

Stress sensitivity of permeability, mD/MPa

S kϕ :

Porosity sensitivity of permeability, mD

S p :

Stress sensitivity evaluation index, dimensionless

S αC :

Stress sensitivity coefficient, MPa−1

S ϕσ :

Stress sensitivity of coal porosity, 10−2 MPa−1

V :

Volume, m3

V ad :

Mass percentage of air-drying base volatiles, %

V daf :

Mass percentage of dry ash-free volatiles, %

x :

Integration variable, dimensionless

α H :

Porosity sensitivity of coal permeability, dimensionless

α k :

Permeability modulus, MPa−1

α ϕ :

Porosity modulus, MPa−1

γ :

Bulk density, kN/m3

Δ:

Increment, dimensionless

µ :

Poisson’s ratio, dimensionless

π :

Circumference rate

σ :

Stress, MPa

ϕ :

Porosity, %

CBM:

Coalbed methane

XRD:

X-ray diffraction

XRF:

X-ray fluorescence

0:

Initial value

b:

Bulk

e:

Effective stress

h :

High porosity

i :

Index symbol

l :

Low porosity

m :

Medium porosity

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 51622402), the State Key Research Development Program of China (no. 2016YFC0600702), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M610599) and the SCU Full-time Postdoctoral Research and Development Foundation (2017SCU12025). We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Isaac N. for assistance with the English language. We acknowledge the constructive comments of the editor and two anonymous reviewers that improved the quality of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Zetian Zhang, Ru Zhang, Jianhui Deng & Jing Xie

  2. Yalong River Hydropower Development Company, Ltd., Chengdu, 610051, China

    Shiyong Wu

  3. College of Water Resource and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Zetian Zhang, Ru Zhang, Shiyong Wu, Jianhui Deng & Jing Xie

  4. MOE Key Laboratory of Deep Underground Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Zetian Zhang, Ru Zhang, Jianhui Deng & Zhaopeng Zhang

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  1. Zetian Zhang
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Correspondence to Ru Zhang.

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Zhang, Z., Zhang, R., Wu, S. et al. The Stress Sensitivity and Porosity Sensitivity of Coal Permeability at Different Depths: A Case Study in the Pingdingshan Mining Area. Rock Mech Rock Eng 52, 1539–1563 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-018-1633-8

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