Technology and application of pressure relief and permeability increase by jointly drilling and slotting coal

Difficulties with soft coal seams having a high gas content and high stress levels can be addressed by a technology of pressure relief and permeability increase. Slotting the seam by auxiliary drilling with a water jet that breaks the coal and slots the coal seam during the process of retreat drilling achieves pressure relief and permeability increase. Improved efficiency of gas extraction from a field test, high gas coal seam was observed. Investigating the theory of pressure relief and permeability increase required analyzing the characteristics of the double power slotting process and the effects of coal pressure relief and permeability increase. The influence of confining pressure on coal physical properties was examined by using FLAC3D software code to simulate changes of coal stress within the tool destruction area. The double power joint drilling method was modeled. Field experiments were performed and the effects are analyzed. This research shows that there is an "islanding effect'' in front of the joint double power drill and slotting equipment. The failure strength of the coal seam is substantially reduced within the tool destruction area. Drilling depths are increased by 72% and the diameter of the borehole is increased by 30%. The amount of powdered coal extracted from the drill head increases by 17 times when using the new method. A 30 day total flow measurement from the double power drilled and slotted bores showed that gas extraction increased by 1.3 times compared to the standard drilled bores. Gas concentrations increased from 30% to 60% and were more stable so the overall extraction efficiency increased by a factor of two times. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China University of Mining & Technology.