Study on Permeability Anisotropy of Bedded Coal Under True Triaxial Stress and Its Application

Anisotropy is a very typical observation in the intrinsic bedding structure of coal. To study the influence of anisotropy of coal structure and stress state on the evolution of permeability, a newly developed multifunctional true triaxial geophysical apparatus was used to carry out mechanical and seepage experiments on bedded coal. The permeability and deformation of three orthogonal directions in cubic coal samples were collected under true triaxial stress. It has detected the significant permeability anisotropy, and the anisotropy is firmly determined by the bedding direction and stress state of coal. Based on the true triaxial mechanical and seepage test results, the coal with bedding was simplified to be represented by a cubic model, and the dynamic anisotropic (D-A) permeability model was derived by considering the influence of bedding and stress state. The rationality of the permeability model was verified by the experimental data. Comparing the permeability model with Wang and Zang (W–Z) model, Cui and Bustin (C–B) model and Shi and Durucan (S–D) model, it is found that the theoretical calculated values of the D-A permeability model are in better agreement with the experimental measured values, reflecting the superiority of the D-A permeability model. Based on incorporating the model of D-A permeability under the concept of multiphysics field coupling, the numerical simulation experiments of coal seam gas extraction with different initial permeability anisotropic ratios were carried out by using COMSOL multiphysics simulator. The influence of initial permeability anisotropy ratio on gas pressure distribution in coal seam during gas extraction was explored, which provides theoretical guidance for the optimization of borehole layout for gas extraction in coal mine.