Skip to main content
Log in

An Experimental Study on the Effects of Water Content on Coalbed Gas Permeability in Ground Stress Fields

  • Published:
Transport in Porous Media Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Experimental coal cores were collected from a coalbed of Sihe colliery and Zhaozhuang colliery, Qinshui Basin, China. Their gas effective permeability was studied under effects of water content and effective stress. The experiments were mainly carried out on a self-made “Triaxial Stress Thermal–hydrological–mechanical Coal Gas Permeameter.” The results showed that when the temperatures of gas and coal were constant, a negative effect of either water content or effective stress was reported on the gas transportation, i.e., the gas effective permeability decreased with the increasing of water content under constant effective stress and it also decreased as the effective stress increased when the water content was constant. Under experimental conditions as in this study, the effects of water content and effective stress on the gas effective permeability was described by a linear–exponential equation, which presented that the gas effective permeability had a linear relationship with the water content and an exponential relationship with the effective stress. The permeation pores were defined as the primary places of transporting the coalbed gas. They were affected by water content and effective stress in different ways. The water content occupied the space of permeation pores, while the effective stress changed the shape of permeation pores. Consequently, the gas effective permeability was also affected by the two aspects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Brooks R.H., Corey A.T.: Hydraulic Properties of Porous Media. Hydrology Paper 3. Colorado State University, Fort Collins (1964)

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaturvedi T., Schembre J.M., Kovscek A.R.: Spontaneous imbibition and wettability characteristics of Powder River Basin coal. Int. J. Coal Geol. 77, 34–42 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarkson C.R., Bustin R.M.: Variation in permeability with lithotype and maceral composition of cretaceous coals of the canadian cordillera. Int. J. Coal Geol. 33, 135–151 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dana E., Skoczylas F.: Gas relative permeability and pore structure of sandstones. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 36, 613–625 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng Z., Wan Z., Zhao Y., Li G., Zhang Y., Wang C., Zhu N.: Experimental study of permeability of anthracite and gas coal masses under high temperature and triaxial stress. Chin. J. Rock Mech. Eng. 29(4), 689–696 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Harpalani S., Chen G.: Estimation of changes in fracture porosity of coal with gas emission. Fuel 74(10), 1491–1498 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hildenbrand A., Schlömer A., Krooss B.M.: Gas breakthrough experiments on fine-grained sedimentary rocks. Geofluids 2, 3–23 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang Y., Yang X., Xian X., Xiong L., Yi J.: The infiltration equation of coal bed under the cooperation of stress field, temperature field and sound field. J. China Coal Soc. 35(3), 434–438 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu G., Ma L., Xing Z.: Calculation Manual of Chemical Physical Property. Chemical Industry Press, Beijing (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu G., Smirnov A.V.: Modeling of carbon sequestration in coal-beds: A variable saturated simulation, Energ. Conv. Manage. 49, 2849–2858 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  • Massarotto, P., Rudolph, V., Golding, S.D., Iyer, R.: The effect of directional net stresses on the directional permeability of coal. In: Paper 0358, Proceedings of the 2003 International Coalbed Methane Symposium, The University of Alabama, Alabama, USA (2003)

  • Palmer, I., Mansoori, J.: How permeability depends on stress and pore pressure in coalbeds: a new model. SPE 36737, Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, Colorado, USA (1996)

  • Patersool, L., Meaney, K., Smyth, M.: Measurements of relative permeability, absolute permeability and fracture geometry in coal. In: Coalbed Methane Symposium, Townsville, Australia, pp. 19–21, Nov 1992

  • Saud S.A., Abdulaziz A.A.: Factors affecting pseudo relative permeability curves. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 21, 249–261 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheidegger A.E.: The Physics of Flow Through Porous Media, 3rd edn. University of Toronto Press, Toronto (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwerer, F.C., Pavone, A.M.: Effect of pressure-dependent permeability on well-test analyses and long-term production of methane from coal seams. In: SPE Unconventional Gas Recovery Symposium, pp. 13–15, Pittsburgh, PA, May 1984

  • Siriwardane H., Haljasmaa I., McLendon R., Irdi G., Soong Y., Bromhal G.: Influence of carbon dioxide on coal permeability determined by pressure transient methods. Int. J. Coal Geol. 77, 109–118 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Somerton W.H., Soylemezoglu I.M., Dudley R.C.: Effect of stress on permeability of coal. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 12(5–6), 129–145 (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Standards Press of China.: Sampling of Coal Petrology (GB/T 19222-2003). Standards Press of China, Beijing (2003)

  • Sun K., Liang B., Wang J.: The fluid–solid-coupling seepage of two phase fluid (gas and water) in coal seams gas reservoir. J. Liaoning Tech. Univ. (Nat. Sci.) 20(1), 36–39 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan X., Xian X., Zhang G., Du Y., Xu J.: Research on the permeability of coal. J. Xi’An Min. Inst. 14(1), 22–25 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  • Terzaghi K.: Principles of soil mechanics. Eng. News-Rec. 95, 832–836 (1925)

    Google Scholar 

  • van Genuchten M. Th.: A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44, 892–898 (1980)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang H., Du Y., Xian X., Luo P.: Seepage equation of coalbed gas in geophysical field. Chin. J. Rock Mech. Eng. 21(5), 644–646 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang E., Zhang L., He X., Liu Z.: Electric field response of gas permeability of coal. J. China Univ. Min. Technol. 33(1), 62–65 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie K.: Coal Structure and its Reactivity. Science Press, Beijing (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu J., Peng S., Tao Y., Yang H.: Experimental analysis of influence of creep on permeability of gas-bering coal. Chin. J. Rock Mech. Eng. 28(11), 2273–2279 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H., Liu J., Elsworth D.: How sorption-induced matrix deformation affects gas flow in coal seams: a new FE model. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 45, 1226–1236 (2008a)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X., Tong D., Hu A.: Numerical simulation of coalbed methane pattern exploitation in Qinshui basin. Eng. Mech. 25(12), 218–222 (2008b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou S., Lin B.: The Theory of Gas Flow and Storage in Coal Seams. China Coal Industry Publishing House, Beijing (1990)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Changbao Jiang.

Electronic Supplementary Material

The Below is the Electronic Supplementary Material.

ESM 1 (DOC 72 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yin, G., Jiang, C., Xu, J. et al. An Experimental Study on the Effects of Water Content on Coalbed Gas Permeability in Ground Stress Fields. Transp Porous Med 94, 87–99 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-012-9990-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-012-9990-3

Keywords

Navigation