Effect of protective coal seam mining and gas extraction on gas transport in a coal seam

A gas–solid coupling model involving coal seam deformation, gas diffusion and seepage, gas adsorption and desorption was built to study the gas transport rule under the effect of protective coal seam mining. The research results indicate: (1) The depressurization effect changes the stress state of an overlying coal seam and causes its permeability to increase, thus gas in the protected coal seam will be desorbed and transported under the effect of a gas pressure gradient, which will cause a decrease in gas pressure. (2) Gas pressure can be further decreased by setting out gas extraction boreholes in the overlying coal seam, which can effectively reduce the coal and gas outburst risk. The research is of important engineering significance for studying the gas transport rule in protected coal seam and providing important reference for controlling coal and gas outbursts in deep mining in China.