Study on the effective drainage range of long horizontal borehole for goaf gas drainage

Abstract

Laying long horizontal borehole (LHB) in mining‐induced strata fractures for coal‐bed gas drainage in the goaf is a pivotal method for eliminating safety hazards, preventing atmospheric pollution, and realizing gas utilization. A crucial premise of this method is to determine the effective drainage range of the borehole, a key parameter directly affecting boreholes spacing and drainage efficiency. In this study, a model of gas seepage during LHB drainage within a circular equipotential boundary was presented, and the complex variable function theory and the mirror principle were adopted for deriving the complex potential function of gas flow under the condition of LHB drainage and the drainage volume function of a single center borehole. Besides, the main indicator to determinate the effective drainage range of LHB was given. Specifically, the indicator refers to the distance between the turning point (the point at which the change rate of the gas flow velocity is −0.002 around the borehole) and the center of the borehole. Subsequently, numerical simulation was conducted to obtain the effective drainage range of LHB within mining‐induced fractures of overlying strata, that is, 4 m < r < 7 m. Furthermore, discussion of the effective drainage range of LHB was carried out by analyzing gas flow velocity distributions and LHB drainage volumes. A case study demonstrates that a double‐borehole layout with a 10 m spacing can effectively control pressure‐relief gas in the goaf. Meanwhile, such a layout can achieve well‐balanced drainage efficiency of each borehole with a minimal difference of 0.31 m3 min−1, which is only about 7.9% of the average drainage volume of the two boreholes. The above results verify that the determined effective drainage range of LHB is reasonable. The research results can provide references for determining the drainage range of LHB in multi‐borehole layout of coal mines, and then determining the spacing of LHBs arrangement, thereby improving the efficiency of gas extraction.