• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.581-588
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• 2018

In order to explore the comprehensive evaluation means of the extent of hydraulic fracturing region in coal seams, we analyzed the feasibility of detecting the response of coal rock direct current (DC) apparent resistivity to hydraulic-fracturing using Archie's theory, and conducted experimental researches on the response of DC resistivity in the hydraulic fracturing process using small-scale coal rock samples. The results show that porosity and water saturation are the two factors affecting the apparent resistivity of coal rock while hydraulic fracturing. Water has a dominant effect on the apparent resistivity of coal rock samples. The apparent resistivity in the area where water flows through is reduced more than 50%, which can be considered as a core affect region of hydraulic fracturing. Stress indirectly impacts the apparent resistivity by changing porosity. Before hydraulic fracturing, the greater axial load applied, the more serious the rupture in the samples, resulting in the greater apparent resistivity. Apparent resistivity testing is a potential regional method to evaluate the influence range of hydraulic fracturing in coal seams.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1017-1027
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• 2018

To explore the influence of coal thickness on the mechanical behavior and the failure characteristics of rock-coal-rock (RCR) mass, the experimental investigation of uniaxial compressive tests was conducted first and then a systematic numerical simulation by particle flow code (PFC2D) was performed to deeply analyze the failure mechanical behavior of RCR specimens with different coal thicknesses in conventional compression tests. The overall elastic modulus and peak stress of RCR specimens lie between the rock and the coal. Inter-particle properties were calibrated to match the physical sample strength and the stiffness response. Numerical simulation results show that the deformation and strength behaviors of RCR specimens depend not only on the coal thickness, but also on the confining pressure. Under low confining pressures, the overall failure mechanism of RCR specimen is the serious damage of coal section when the coal thickness is smaller than 30 mm, but it is shear failure of coal section when the coal thickness is larger than 30 mm. Whereas under high confining pressures, obvious shear bands exist in both the coal section and the rock section when the coal thickness is larger than 30 mm, but when the coal thickness is smaller than 30mm, the failure mechanism is serious damage of coal section and shear failure of rock section.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.459-466
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• 2018

By conducting uniaxial loading cycle tests on the coal rock with outburst proneness, the dilatation characteristics at different loading rates were investigated. Under uniaxial loading and unloading, the lateral deformation of coal rock increased obviously before failure, leading to coal dilatation. Moreover, the post-unloading recovery of the lateral deformation was rather small, suggesting the onset of an accelerated failure. As the loading rate increased further, the ratio of the stress at the dilatation critical point to peak-intensity increased gradually, and the pre-peak volumetric deformation decreased with more severe post-peak damage. Based on the laboratory test results, the lateral deformation of the coals at different depths in the #1302 isolated coal pillars, Yangcheng Coal Mine, was monitored using wall rock displacement meter. The field monitoring result indicates that the coal lateral displacement went through various distinct stages: the lateral displacement of the coals at the depth of 2-6 m went through an "initial increase-stabilize-step up-plateau" series. When the coal wall of the working face was 24-18 m away from the measuring point, the coals in this region entered the accelerated failure stage; as the working face continued advancing, the lateral displacement of the coals at the depth over 6 m increased steadily, i.e., the coals in this region were in the stable failure stage.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.627-643
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• 2022

Water-rock interactions have a significant influence on the mechanical behavior of rocks. In this study, uniaxial compression and tension tests on different water-treated sandstone samples were conducted. Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring and micro-pore structure detection were carried out. Water-rock interactions and their effects on rock mechanical behavior were discussed. The results indicate that water content significantly weakens rock mechanical strength. The sensitivity of the mechanical parameters to water treatment, from high to low, are Poisson ratio (𝜇), uniaxial tensile strength (UTS), uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), elastic modulus (E), and peak strain (𝜀). After water treatment, AE activities and the shear crack percentage are reduced, the angles between macro fractures and loading direction are minimized, the dynamic phenomenon during loading is weakened, and the failure mode changes from a mixed tensile-shear type to a tensile one. Due to the softening, lubrication, and water wedge effects in water-rock interactions, water content increases pore size, promotes crack development, and weakens micro-pore structures. Further damage of rocks in fractured and caved zones due to the water-rock interactions leads to an extra load on the adjoining coal and rock masses, which will increase the risk of dynamic disasters.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.49-60
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• 2019

Crack instability propagation during coal and rock mass failure is the main reason for electromagnetic radiation (EMR) generation. However, original cracks on coal and rock mass are hard to study, making it complex to reveal EMR laws and mechanisms. In this paper, we prefabricated cracks of different inclinations in coal and rock samples as the analogues of the native cracks, carried out uniaxial compression experiments using these coal and rock samples, explored, the effects of the prefabricated cracks on EMR laws, and verified these laws by measuring the surface potential signals. The results show that prefabricated cracks are the main factor leading to the failure of coal and rock samples. When the inclination between the prefabricated crack and axial stress is smaller, the wing cracks occur first from the two tips of the prefabricated crack and expand to shear cracks or coplanar secondary cracks whose advance directions are coplanar or nearly coplanar with the prefabricated crack's direction. The sample failure is mainly due to the composited tensile and shear destructions of the wing cracks. When the inclination becomes bigger, the wing cracks appear at the early stage, extend to the direction of the maximum principal stress, and eventually run through both ends of the sample, resulting in the sample's tensile failure. The effect of prefabricated cracks of different inclinations on electromagnetic (EM) signals is different. For samples with prefabricated cracks of smaller inclination, EMR is mainly generated due to the variable motion of free charges generated due to crushing, friction, and slippage between the crack walls. For samples with larger inclination, EMR is generated due to friction and slippage in between the crack walls as well as the charge separation caused by tensile extension at the cracks' tips before sample failure. These conclusions are further verified by the surface potential distribution during the loading process.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1113-1124
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• 2018

Geological dynamic hazards during deep coal mining are caused by the failure of a composite system consisting of the rock and coal layers, whereas the joint in coal affects the stability of the composite system. In this paper, the compression test simulations for the rock-coal combined body with single joint in coal were conducted using $PFC^{2D}$ software and especially the effects of joint length and joint angle on strength and failure characteristics in a rock-coal combined body were analyzed. The joint length and joint angle exhibit a deterioration effect on the strength and affect the failure modes. The deterioration effect of joint length of L on the strength can be neglected with a tiny variation at ${\alpha}$ of $0^{\circ}$ or $90^{\circ}$ between the loading direction and joint direction. While, the deterioration effect of L on strength are relatively large at ${\alpha}$ between $30^{\circ}$ and $60^{\circ}$. And the peak stress and peak strain decrease with the increase of L. Additionally, the deterioration effect of ${\alpha}$ on the strength becomes larger with the increase of L. With the increase of ${\alpha}$, the peak stress and peak strain first decrease and then increase, presenting "V-shaped" curves. And the peak stress and peak strain at ${\alpha}$ of $45^{\circ}$ are the smallest. Moreover, the failure mainly occurs within the coal and no apparent failure is observed for rock. At ${\alpha}$ between $30^{\circ}$ and $60^{\circ}$, the secondary shear cracks generated in or close to the joint tips, cause the structural instability failure of the combined body. Therefore, their failure models present as a shear failure along partial joint plane direction and partially cutting across the coal body or a shear failure along the joint plane direction. However, at ${\alpha}$ of $60^{\circ}$ and L of 10 mm, the "V-shaped" shear cracks cutting across the coal body cause its final failure. While crack nucleations at ${\alpha}$ of $0^{\circ}$ or $90^{\circ}$ are randomly distributed in the coal, the failure mode shows a V-shaped shear failure cutting across the coal body.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.273-284
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• 2018

A detailed understanding of the mechanical behaviors for crushed coal rocks after grouting is a key for construction in the broken zones of mining engineering. In this research, experiments of grouting into the crushed coal rock using independently developed test equipment for solving the problem of sampling of crushed coal rocks have been carried out. The application of uniaxial compression was used to approximately simulate the ground stress in real engineering. In combination with the analysis of crack evolution and failure modes for the grouted specimens, the influences of different crushed degrees of coal rock (CDCR) and solidified grout strength (SGS) on the mechanical behavior of grouted specimens under uniaxial compression were investigated. The research demonstrated that first, the UCS of grouted specimens decreased with the decrease in the CDCR at constant SGS (except for the SGS of 12.3 MPa). However, the UCS of grouted specimens for constant CDCR increased when the SGS increased; optimum solidification strengths for grouts between 19.3 and 23.0 MPa were obtained. The elastic moduli of the grouted specimens with different CDCR generally increased with increasing SGS, and the peak axial strain showed a slightly nonlinear decrease with increasing SGS. The supporting effect of the skeleton structure produced by the solidified grouts was increasingly obvious with increasing CDCR and SGS. The possible evolution of internal cracks for the grouted specimens was classified into three stages: (1) cracks initiating along the interfaces between the coal blocks and solidified grouts; (2) cracks initiating and propagating in coal blocks; and (3) cracks continually propagating successively in the interfaces, the coal blocks, and the solidified grouts near the coal blocks. Finally, after the propagation and coalescence of internal cracks through the entire specimens, there were two main failure modes for the failed grouted specimens. These modes included the inclined shear failure occurring in the more crushed coal rock and the splitting failure occurring in the less crushed coal rock. Both modes were different from the single failure mode along the fissure for the fractured coal rock after grouting solidification. However, compared to the brittle failure of intact coal rock, grouting into the different crushed degree coal rocks resulted in ductile deformation after the peak strength for the grouted specimens was attained.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.451-461
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• 2022

The roadways surrounded by rock and coal will lose their stability or even collapse under rock burst. Rock burst mainly involves an evolution of dynamic loading which behaves quite differently from static or quasi-static loading. To compare the dynamic response of coal and rocks with different static strengths, three different rocks and bituminous coal were selected for testing at three different dynamic loadings. It's found that the dynamic compression strength of rocks and bituminous coal is much greater than the static compression strength. The dynamic compression strength and dynamic increase factor of the rocks both increase linearly with the increase of the strain rate, while those of the bituminous coal are irregular due to the characteristics of multi-fracture and heterogeneity. Moreover, the absorbed energy of the rocks and bituminous coal both increase linearly with an increase in the strain rate. And the ratio of absorbed energy to the total energy of bituminous coal is greater than that of rocks. With the increase of dynamic loading, the failure degree of the sample increases, with the increase of the static compressive strength, the damage degree also increases. The static compassion strength of the bituminous coal is lower than that of rocks, so the number of small-scale fragments was the largest after bituminous coal rupture.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.325-334
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• 2016

Rock salt is a near-perfect material for gas storage repositories due to its excellent ductility and low permeability. Gas storage in rock salt layers during gas injection and gas production causes the stress redistribution surrounding the cavity. The triaxial cyclic loading and unloading tests for rock salt were performed in this paper. The elastic-plastic deformation behaviour of rock salt under cyclic loading was observed. Rock salt experienced strain hardening during the initial loading, and the irreversible deformation was large under low stress station, meanwhile the residual stress became larger along with the increase of deviatoric stress. Confining pressure had a significant effect on the unloading modulus for the variation of mechanical parameters. Based on the theory of elastic-plastic damage mechanics, the evolution of damage during cyclic loading and unloading under various confining pressure was described.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.113-121
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• 1999

Coal is both source rock and reservoir rock for the coalbed gas. Coalbed gas. Coalbed gas is predominantly methane and has a heating value of approximatly 1000 BTU/$ft^3$. Most of methane is stored in the coal as a monomolecular layer adsorbed on the internal surface of the coal matrix. The amount of methane stored in coal is related to the rank and the depth of the coal. THe higher the coal rank and the deeper the coal seam is presently buried, the greater its capacity to hold gas. Most of Korean Coal is anthracite or metaanthracite, Ro. 3.5~5.5%, and total reserves are 1.6 billion metric tons. The domestic demand for coal was drastically decreased and the rationalization policy carried out from 1987 on coal industry. Now that a large number of coal mines was closed only a few mines continued to produce not more than 5 million tons for year. It is therefore recommended to formulate a strategy to explore and exploit the resources of coalbed methane in Korea.