Anisotropic Damage Mechanism of Coal Seam Water Injection with Multiphase Coupling

Abstract

After coal seam water injection, coal mechanical properties will change with brittleness weakening and plasticity enhancement. Aiming at the problem of coal damage caused by the coal seam water injection process, based on nonlinear pore elasticity theory and continuum damage theory, a nonlinear pore elastic damage model considering anisotropic characteristics is proposed to calculate and analyze the gas−liquid−solid multiphase coupling effect with the fully coupled finite element method during the coal seam water injection process. The research results indicate that the wetting radius of calculated results by the model agrees well with the in situ test results, and the relative errors are less than 10%. Water saturation and induced damage of the coal body in the parallel bedding direction are greater than that in the vertical bedding direction during the coal seam water injection process, which exhibits significant anisotropic characteristics. With the increasing water injection time, the induced damage of the coal body also increases near the water injection hole. Considering the inherent permeability arising with damage, it has a significant impact on both water saturation and induced damage, which also indicates that there is a strong interaction between water saturation and induced damage. The theoretical model reveals the coal damage mechanism of gas−liquid−solid multiphase coupling after coal seam water injection and provides a theoretical prediction of coal containing water characteristics in engineering practice.