Coupled Multifield Response to Coordinate Mining of Coal and Uranium: A Case Study

Abstract

The coordinate mining of stack resources in the Ordos Basin, which involves the coupling effects of stress fracture, seepage, and reactive solute transport, plays an important role in resource exploration and environment protection. A coupled multiphysical–chemical model, involving a modified non-Darcy flow model, a leaching solution reaction, and a reactive solute transport model, was developed in this study. The Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua -Computational Fluid Dynamics (FLAC3D-CFD) simulator coupled with the developed models was used to investigate the evolution and morphology of mining-induced multifield coupling for the scenarios of concurrent mining and asynchronous mining of coal and uranium. As mining advanced to 160 m, the maximum principle stress characterized by a stress shell was observed. As mining progressed to 280 m, a rupture occurred, and a new stress shell was generated as a rear skewback was formed by the concentrated stress of the stope. An “arch-shaped” fracture field combined with a “saddle-shaped” seepage field was identified in the destressed zone of the stress shell. In the coordinated mining of uranium prior to coal, “funnel-shaped” and “asymmetric saddle-shaped” morphologies of the leaching solution were found during coal mining for ventilation in the stope and mining face. By contrast, “saddle-shaped”, “inclined funnel-shaped”, and “horizontal” morphologies of the leaching solution were observed for a short period for ventilation of the stope and mining face for coal mining prior to uranium mining, uranium mining prior to coal mining, and synchronized coal and uranium mining. A dynamic stress response was obtained in the coal seam, followed by the conglomerate aquifer and the uranium deposits. The diffusion depth of the solution was negatively correlated with the injection velocity and the pumping ratio and positively correlated with the diffusion coefficient. A dynamic increase in diffusion depth was observed as the diffusion coefficient increased to 1 × 10−4 m2/s.