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Safe and Efficient Exploitation and Utilization of Deep Earth Resources

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 7877

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Bohong Wang

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Guest Editor

National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Harbour Oil & Gas Storage and Transportation Technology, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China
Interests: process integration; oil and gas; energy systems analysis; supply chain management; pipeline engineering
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Prof. Dr. Yi Wang

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Oil and Gas Storage and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Interests: underground gas storage; pipleine transportation simulation; hydrogen energy; numerical heat transfer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Dingding Yang

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Guest Editor

School of Petrochemical Engineering & Environment, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China
Interests: safety engineering; coal mining; oil and gas storage and transportation

Dr. Mengmeng Wu

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Guest Editor

Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: tomographic characterization of geomaterials; discrete element method (DEM) in geomechanics; multi-scale modeling and simulation of geomaterials; rock mechanics and rock engineering

Dr. Xincheng Hu

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Guest Editor

Mining College, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Interests: geothermal energy; enhanced geothermal systems; deep borehole heat exchanger; heat storage; coal spontaneous combustion; coalbed methane drainage

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the increasing demand for natural resources, shallow resources are drying up. The globalized modern economy relies on natural resources, so the pursuit of such resources will never stop. This highlights the importance of exploring natural resources sourced from the deep earth. The exploration of deep-earth natural resources will meet the demands of many scientific and engineering problems. Breakthroughs in these problems will lead to a revolution in mining technologies.

The focus of this Special Issue is on innovation and development in support of the clean, safe, and efficient exploitation and utilization of deepearth resources. This Special Issue seeks to deepen our understanding of topics related to enabling and accelerating the development and utilization of deep-earth resources, including the theoretical and scientific problems met during development, and methods of solving practical engineering and technical issues.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

Overviews and perspectives of the development and utilization of deep earth resources;
Environmental monitoring and the preservation of the ecosystem in the exploitation of deep earth resources;
Emerging development and utilization technologies for deep earth resources;
Engineering problems encountered in the exploitation of deep earth resources;
Hot dry rock resource development and utilization;
Safe mining of deep earth resources;
Fluid mining technology of deep earth resources;
Unconventional oil and gas development;
Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) in deep earth;
Heat control and utilization;
Well integrity and risk assessment;
Cooling methods in deep mining;
The co-mining of heat and natural resources;

Dr. Bohong Wang
Prof. Dr. Yi Wang
Dr. Dingding Yang
Dr. Mengmeng Wu
Dr. Xincheng Hu
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6740 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Deep Coalbed Methane Localized Spotting and Efficient Permeability Enhancement Technology

by Jiayong Zhang, Yongzhen Niu, Jian Chen, Yanlei Guo and Liwen Guo

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(22), 11843; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122211843 - 21 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1238

Abstract

To solve the bottleneck problem of low deep coal seam permeability and difficult coalbed methane (CBM) mining. Combining hydraulic splitting technology and directional drilling technology, a directional hydraulic splitting enhancement method of deep CBM mining was proposed. The selection equation for the directional hydraulic splitting of deep coalbed was constructed. The numerical simulation reveals the variation in coal fractures around different split angles. The split angle under the maximum coal damage effect was obtained. It was found that the combined effect of the double crack damage disturbance region led to reciprocal stress fluctuations during crack development and, eventually, the formation of a zigzag fracture. The larger the splitting angle, the larger the fissure development length and the larger the coal-damaged area. A double crack takes 25% less time to complete propagation than a single crack. When the splitting angle is 90°, the disturbed area occupies 2/3 of the area around the borehole, and the overall fracturing effect is the best. In the application process, the new directional hydraulic splitting technology can increase CBM mining by 5.08%, greatly improve CBM mining efficiency, and reduce the coal mining risk, which is of great significance to the project. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safe and Efficient Exploitation and Utilization of Deep Earth Resources)

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17 pages, 2872 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Eocene Sedimentary–Diagenetic Environment Analysis of the Pingtai Area of the Qaidam Basin

by Guoqiang Sun, Shuncun Zhang, Yetong Wang, Yaoliang Li, Hui Guo and Shangshang Bo

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(14), 6850; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12146850 - 6 Jul 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1181

Abstract

Based on the petrological characteristics and elemental geochemical analysis of core samples from the Pingtai area in the northern structural belt of the Qaidam Basin, this study shows that the clay mineral assemblage of Lulehe Formation sandstone is dominated by high contents of smectite, chlorite and illite, and does not contain illite–smectite mixed layers or kaolinite. The chlorite and illite in the Xiaganchaigou Formation decreased gradually and the smectite disappeared. In addition, illite–smectite mixed layers began to appear and kaolinite was not present. These results indicate that the diagenetic environment of the Pingtai area in the early Eocene was dominated by alkaline media poor in K⁺ and rich in Mg²⁺, Na⁺ and Ca²⁺. In the late Eocene, K⁺ content in the diagenetic medium increased significantly, and smectite began to transform into illite. From the early Eocene to the late Eocene, the overall climate and environmental characteristics showed a transition from cold and dry to a cold climate that alternated between dry and wet. The content changes of common oxides, such as CaO, MgO, K₂O, Na₂O, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂, showed obvious correlation. Based on the content and ratio change tendencies of Sr, Ba, Cu, Zn, U, Th, Ce and other trace elements, combined with the variation characteristics of rare earth element contents, it is suggested that the Lulehe Formation was dominated by a dry and cold freshwater sedimentary environment, and that paleoclimatic conditions were relatively cold and arid during this sedimentary period. However, the climate in the sedimentary period of the Xiaganchaigou Formation was dominated by a cold environment alternating between dry and wet, which also reflected the finding that the global climate was mainly cold and dry in the early Eocene and gradually became warm and humid in the late Eocene. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safe and Efficient Exploitation and Utilization of Deep Earth Resources)

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13 pages, 7271 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Study of the Plastic Zone and Stress Asymmetric Distribution in Roadway Layered Surrounding Rocks

by Jiaren Chen, Hai Wu, Xuan Zhang, Xu Gao, Tao Ling and Zizheng Zhang

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(12), 6108; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12126108 - 16 Jun 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1257

Abstract

A three-axis experimental simulation model was established for a roadway with layered surrounding rock by a 20 MPa true triaxial analog simulation equipment, and the corresponding layered surrounding rock numerical simulation model was established by discrete element software. The simulation results showed that the deformation of the roadway layered surrounding rock showed asynchronous deformation with time and asymmetric deformation in space. The measured results of the multipoint displacement meter inside the surrounding rock showed that the order of displacement of surrounding rock from the four corners of the roadway to the center of the roadway were upper right, lower left, upper left, and lower right. Under the influence of the surrounding rock bedding, the shape of the plastic zone of the roadway surrounding rock was irregular. In the area where the rock layer and the surface of the roadway were tangent and in the vertical area between the rock layer and the surface of the roadway, the plastic zone had a large development depth. In other regions, the development depth of the plastic zone was smaller. As a result, the stress values obtained at the monitoring points in the surrounding rock at the same distance from the roadway surface were different, and the stress increase value of the monitoring points in the plastic zone was not large (No. 929). With the expansion of the plastic zone, the monitoring point change from outside the plastic zone to inside the plastic zone, its stress first increased and then decreased (No. 2 and No. 872). The experimental results are of great significance for understanding and controlling the development law of the plastic zone of a layered inclined rock roadway and the deformation control of the roadway layered surrounding rock. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safe and Efficient Exploitation and Utilization of Deep Earth Resources)

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23 pages, 62375 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Simulation of Deformation and Failure Mechanism of Main Inclined Shaft in Yuxi Coal Mine, China

by Fan Wu, Yueping Qin, Hao Xu, Fengjie Zhang and Xiangyu Chu

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(11), 5531; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12115531 - 30 May 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1428

Abstract

Disturbance stresses can cause deformation and damage to a tunnel’s rock, potentially threatening the mine’s safety. This paper investigates the effects of disturbance damage on the main inclined shaft due to the excavation of an electromechanical chamber in a deep inclined shaft at Yuxi Mine. Specifically, a numerical model was constructed using Midas GTX NX and Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in Three Dimensions (FLAC3D) to match the actual engineering conditions, and to reveal the stresses and deformations in the surrounding rock of the main inclined shaft before and after the excavation of the main inclined shaft, the electromechanical chamber and the head chamber. The results revealed that the surrounding rock stress around the main inclined shaft is significantly influenced by excavation disturbance. The bottom bulge occurred due to the unstable vertical and shear stresses in the bottom coal bed moving into free space. After the excavation of the electromechanical chamber, the maximum displacement of the floor can be increased from 0.35468 m to 0.64301 m, nearly doubled, and a large area of surrounding rock deformation occurs in the inclined shaft falling roadway. Affected by excavation disturbance, the maximum deformation of floor can reach 1.06 m, with a wide fluctuation range. The main area of damage to the surrounding rock was identified, except for the main inclined shaft, which occurred near the intersection of the inclined shaft and the drop level location. This area is mainly affected by superimposed tensile stress damage, prone to large area floor heave and spalling. The research content is expected to provide certain theoretical support in taking measures to deal with the deformation and failure of the surrounding rock in a main inclined shaft. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safe and Efficient Exploitation and Utilization of Deep Earth Resources)

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22 pages, 7909 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Numerical Simulation Study of the Impact of Microchannels on Fluid Flow through the Cement–Rock Interface

by Xinxiang Yang, Siqi Guo and Ergun Kuru

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(9), 4766; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12094766 - 9 May 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1241

Abstract

Microchannels located at the cement–rock interface can form potential pathways for formation fluid leakage in oil and gas wells. The effects of geometric shape, quantity, and the inclination angle of microchannels on the flow through cemented rock samples were explored. Finite element 3D models were established based on modified micro-CT images obtained from physical samples. The volume flow rate through different sections of cemented rock samples was extracted after the fluid flow simulations. The numerical results showed that with the presence of a single microchannel, the total volume flow rate could be higher than that of the base case by as much as 9%. Microchannel contact and cross-sectional areas were found to be the two most important factors affecting the total volume flow rate. The overall volume flow rate increased with the increasing cross-sectional area, contact area, and inclination angle of the microchannel. The total volume flow rate for the cases with microchannels having the same cross-sectional area but different shapes increased with the decreasing number of sides of the shape (from circular to triangular) due to the increased contact area. The simulation results also revealed that the relative magnitude of the rock permeability may influence the volume flow rate through each section. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safe and Efficient Exploitation and Utilization of Deep Earth Resources)

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