Reservoir response to mining

Clear understanding of the dynamic changes of gas reservoir conditions during mining is essential for effective multi-seam gas management. Our team has developed an integrated approach to adequately assessing reservoir condition changes and the flow environment of gas migrations. It consists of:

• Rock mass characterisation
• Integrated field investigations into stress changes, displacement, pore pressure, and gas migrations
• Coupled multi-phase numerical modelling with COSFLOW
• Advanced CFD simulations

The figure below shows an example of characterised reservoir condition dynamics including stress condition, fractures, vertical connectivity and drainage borehole failure caused by strata shearing, for complex longwall mining where old workings overly. Such a characterization has led to a very successful design of an innovative longwall horizontal gas drainage system.

Characterisation of reservoir conditions at a longwall panel