Micro-scale fracturing mechanisms in coal induced by adsorption of supercritical CO2

Coal bed methane production can be assisted by CO2 injection. However, CO2 adsorption in the coal matrix leads to a dramatic reduction in permeability and an associated change in microstructure caused by coal matrix swelling. Furthermore, it has been recently observed that the induced swelling stres...

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Main Authors: Zhang, Y., Zhang, Z., Sarmadivaleh, Mohammad, Lebedev, Maxim, Barifcani, Ahmed, Yu, H., Iglauer, Stefan
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52992
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author Zhang, Y.
Zhang, Z.
Sarmadivaleh, Mohammad
Lebedev, Maxim
Barifcani, Ahmed
Yu, H.
Iglauer, Stefan
author_facet Zhang, Y.
Zhang, Z.
Sarmadivaleh, Mohammad
Lebedev, Maxim
Barifcani, Ahmed
Yu, H.
Iglauer, Stefan
author_sort Zhang, Y.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Coal bed methane production can be assisted by CO2 injection. However, CO2 adsorption in the coal matrix leads to a dramatic reduction in permeability and an associated change in microstructure caused by coal matrix swelling. Furthermore, it has been recently observed that the induced swelling stress fractures the unswelling (mineral) phase in laboratory investigations. However, the failure mechanisms are still not understood, and the way internal swelling stresses are generated is not clear. Thus, in this paper, we propose a new method which combines X-ray microtomography imaging, nanoindentation testing and DEM modelling with which we can predict the rock mechanical performance at micro scale. Indeed we successfully simulated such swelling processes inside a coal sample, including a simulation of the fracture mechanism of the mineral phase, and a quantification of the in-situ von Mises stresses generated by swelling. We conclude that our proposed method is an efficient way for analysis and prediction of coal microfracturing and the associated microscale rock mechanical behavior.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2017
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-529922019-04-15T00:52:40Z Micro-scale fracturing mechanisms in coal induced by adsorption of supercritical CO2 Zhang, Y. Zhang, Z. Sarmadivaleh, Mohammad Lebedev, Maxim Barifcani, Ahmed Yu, H. Iglauer, Stefan Coal bed methane production can be assisted by CO2 injection. However, CO2 adsorption in the coal matrix leads to a dramatic reduction in permeability and an associated change in microstructure caused by coal matrix swelling. Furthermore, it has been recently observed that the induced swelling stress fractures the unswelling (mineral) phase in laboratory investigations. However, the failure mechanisms are still not understood, and the way internal swelling stresses are generated is not clear. Thus, in this paper, we propose a new method which combines X-ray microtomography imaging, nanoindentation testing and DEM modelling with which we can predict the rock mechanical performance at micro scale. Indeed we successfully simulated such swelling processes inside a coal sample, including a simulation of the fracture mechanism of the mineral phase, and a quantification of the in-situ von Mises stresses generated by swelling. We conclude that our proposed method is an efficient way for analysis and prediction of coal microfracturing and the associated microscale rock mechanical behavior. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52992 10.1016/j.coal.2017.04.002 fulltext
spellingShingle Zhang, Y.
Zhang, Z.
Sarmadivaleh, Mohammad
Lebedev, Maxim
Barifcani, Ahmed
Yu, H.
Iglauer, Stefan
Micro-scale fracturing mechanisms in coal induced by adsorption of supercritical CO2
title Micro-scale fracturing mechanisms in coal induced by adsorption of supercritical CO2
title_full Micro-scale fracturing mechanisms in coal induced by adsorption of supercritical CO2
title_fullStr Micro-scale fracturing mechanisms in coal induced by adsorption of supercritical CO2
title_full_unstemmed Micro-scale fracturing mechanisms in coal induced by adsorption of supercritical CO2
title_short Micro-scale fracturing mechanisms in coal induced by adsorption of supercritical CO2
title_sort micro-scale fracturing mechanisms in coal induced by adsorption of supercritical co2
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52992