The main purpose of this project is to establish laws of joint mass transfer of methane and water in the fractured-porous structure of the coal-rock massif at micro- and macro-scale levels;heat transfer at self-heating of coal seams and coal-massifs, burning of methane in mine workings; determination of the roles of filtration permeability, heat transfer to the mine workings wall, its geometry, crack resistance, activation energy of surface diffusion, methane concentration in the mine workings in the studied processes.
The application of the methods of thermodynamics of irreversible processes and statistical physics is relevant for the reason that reveals the deep mechanisms of joint mass transfer of fluids in coal seams and hydrocarbon arrays, as well as to adequately describe the thermal regime of coal seams lying at great depthand waste heaps. This will allow us to scientifically substantiate the prediction of underground fires and establish criteria for the ecological safety of waste heaps.
Calculations of critical gas dynamics of a mixture of methane and oxygen in mining operations on the basis of the concept of non-isentropic flow will reveal what will be the role of concentration of methane in production and the role of heat transfer from gases to production walls in the passage of combustion of methane, which will allow a more reliable justification.
Recently, in connection with the depletion of traditional fuel sources, non-traditional sources, primarily coal gas and shale gas, are becoming important. The method of hydraulic fracturing of coal and rock formations is used for their production. Our previous work on the theory of the evolution of trunk cracks can be developed in this direction in the case of initially gas-filled cracks. Calculations of the development of such cracks, taking into account the filtration of both water and gas, which is displaced through the walls into the surrounding rock, will allow us to optimize the technology of fracturing and further utilization of mine methane.
(Responsible: D.Sc,. Prof. Eduard Feldman)