Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No.3, pp.

227237 (2007)

DEVELOPMENT OF A 3D FEM SIMULATOR ON MULTIPHASE SEEPAGE

FLOWS AND ITS APPLICATIONS
H. Li*, P. G. Ranjith**, S. Yamaguchi***, M. Sato#
* Alberta Research Council, 250 Karl Clark Road, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6N 1E4
** Dept. of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
E-Mail: Ranjith.PG@eng.monash.edu.au (Corresponding Author)
*** Faculty of Engineering and Resource Science, Akita University 1-1 Tegata gakuen-machi, Akita,
Akita 010-8502, Japan
#
Geoscience Research Laboratory,1794 Kamiwada, Yamato, Kanagawa, 242-0014, Japan
ABSTRACT: This paper introduces a 3D FEM simulator for multiphase flows in porous media and its applications
through consecutive consulting projects in the past three years. Based on the three-dimensional finite element method
for two-phase flow of a liquid (underground water) and an immiscible or partly soluble gas (air, methane, CO2, etc.)
seepage flows in porous media, the corresponding partial differential simultaneous equations and their numerical
discretization method as well as the sorption/diffusion formulations are described. The simulator has been mainly
applied to simulate both the combustible gas and water flows induced by a step-wise excavation process in sedimentary
rock for disaster prevention during underground excavation for nuclear waste disposal. Furthermore, the simulator has
been applied to predict the coal mine gas and water flows induced by face advancement in coal mining. These practical
application examples are given in this paper.
Keywords:
flows

finite element method, two-phase flows, diffusion/adsorption, prediction of underground water and gas

In China, the mining and consumption of coal bring

not only large quantities of greenhouse gas to the
atmosphere but also deadly accidents caused by
coal gas outburst, which are unfortunately far too
common among the primary energy resources
industry. To reform the current energy structure and
enhance the unconventional coal bed methane
production is the most reliable means to tackle the
problems happening in the largest developing
country. In Japan, it is known that prominent
funding has been invested in the research and
development of carbon dioxide geological storage
and carbon dioxide sequestration into coal seams.
So far, there are a few numerical simulators for
multiphase flows available within the above fields,
e.g., TOUGH , GEM and COMET2.
However, they are all based on the finite difference
or finite volume methods and therefore, they were
mainly developed from well bore related reservoir
engineering against a background of petroleum and
geothermal engineering. Therefore they cannot deal
with the influences of stepwise excavation and
systematic network of wells and tunnels during
underground construction and mining (Fig. 4 on

1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the energy industries and public
construction works induce a profound impact on
our geo-spheric environment and demand
sophisticated unconventional solutions in geotechnical projects. We are now facing the challenge
of multiphase flows problems underground over a
wide range of different engineering fields. For
example, oil and gas reservoir, nuclear waste
disposal in sedimentary stratum, coastal excavation
when meeting much gas flow, immiscible
contamination in soil and subsurface water
remediation, geothermal heat extraction with steam
production, carbon dioxide sequestration into coal
seams and its enhanced oil, natural gas/coal bed
methane recovery, and carbon dioxide storage in
deep saline aquifer. On the contrary, there are few
available text books (Helmig, 1997; Chen, Huan
and Ma, 2006) to meet these growing demands,
especially on the fundamentals of numerical
computation of multiphase flows specific to new
engineering advancement.

Received: 14 Mar. 2007; Revised: 9 May 2007; Accepted: 2 Jun. 2007

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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

page 232 refers). Licenses for commercial

simulators are costly for consulting business. Selfdeveloped source codes allow flexibility and
scalability for a diverse clientels and consecutive
development in a timely fashion. For example, if
you want to extend the application of your
multiphase simulator to coupled geomechanics and
multiphase flows phenomena, you have to consider
non-isothermal behavior of multiphase flows. If you
want to take advantage of the state-of-the-art EOS
(Equation of State) for CO2 with more credible
accuracy on thermodynamical phase changes, you
must first have your own accessible platform. After
all, only an autonomous technology with
fundamental R&D (Research and Development)
can grow into a regionally or globally competitive
business.
It is not only scholarly significant but also
commercially viable to develop a multiphase
simulator based on finite element method.

distance x (m) which is small enough, the mass

outfluxes can be expressed by Talors formula:

( u )x + x = u +
+

( u ) x + 2 ( u )( x )2
x
2! x

3
( u )( x )3 + L
3
3! x

If the terms higher than the linear are neglected, the

corresponding mass of flow exiting the element
during a unit time can be expressed as:

( u )
( v)
Qo = u +
x y z + v +
y x z
x

( w)
z x y
+ w +
z

w+

2. FUNDAMENTAL THEORY ON THE

TWO-PHASE FLOWS

(3)

( w)
z
z

2.1 Derivation of equations for water or gas

flows

v +

( v)
y
x

u +

( u)
x
x

In equation (1), is the mass density of flow

v
(kg/m3), v = (u, v, w)T represents the flow velocity
vector (m/sec) and superscript T indicates the
transpose of the vector. The rectangular
parallelepiped element shown in Fig. 1 is small and
therefore, the component u,v, w can be regarded as
the average flux rates of the left, front and bottom
side areas (positive value represents influx),
respectively.
The mass of flow (kg/sec) entering the element
during a unit time is:

Qi = u y z + v x z + w x y

(2)

y
v
z

x
w

Fig. 1

(1)

The balance of flow in a small rectangular

parallelepiped.

The accumulation of flow in the rectangular

parallelepiped during a unit time (if negative,
corresponding to the drainage) should be:

The rectangular parallelepiped should be treated as

the Representative Elementary Volume (REV, also
known as Control Volume), which is the
characteristic size large enough for a microscopic
structure but small enough for the macroscopic
continuum.
So it can represent the average behavior of
microscopic variation but reach the infinitesimal
limit of macroscope media. Then in the x direction
for mass influxes u , traveling through the

Qa =

( S )
x y z
t

(4)

where = Vv V is the porosity of media (-),

S = V f Vv is the saturation of the fluid (-), V f is
the volume of flow within the pore (m3), Vv is the

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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

void volume of the pore, and V is the volume of the

media (both pore and skeleton).
According to the conservation of the mass,
Qi Q o = Q a , i.e., to a flow

2.2 The dominant simultaneous equations of

water and gas two-phase flows

In order to grasp the behavior of subsurface coexisting gas and water in the gas phase and liquid
phase respectively, the simulation should be carried
out on the basis of simultaneously coupled
dominant equations with consideration of
mechanical and physical interaction between gas
and water phasesequations (9) and (10), and not
on the basis of separately and singly dominant
equations as shown in equation (8).

( u ) ( v ) ( w ) = ( u i ) = ( S ) (5)
x
y
z
t
xi

Simplified from the momentum conservation

equation, Darcy law is applied to a flow,
ui =

( p + g X 3 ) = k K ij p + X 3 (6)
K ij

xj

xj
xj

kg

k
b g
K ij p g + g Z + Rs bw w K ij ( p w + w Z )
w
g

where k is relative permeability of a flow (-), is

dynamic viscosity (Pasec), K ij indicates absolute

d
b g S g + R s bw S w
dt

(9)

k
d
bw w K ij ( p w + w Z ) + q w = ( bw S w ) (10)
dt

where
is divergence operator of vector field;
is gradient operator of scalar field;
bn (n = g or w, i.e., gas or water) is flow shrinkage
factor (-); b = 1 , where is formation
volume factor (-), which is the ratio of the
volume (m3) at a certain state V to that at the
standard state Vs , i.e., = V V s . Since V is a
function of pressure, n = n (p n ) . So is b .
M n = k n K n is phase mobility;
k n [0,1] is phase relative permeability (-), which is
a function of phase saturation;
K is abstract permeability tensor (m2);
n is phase viscosity (kg/m/sec);
p g is pressure of gas (Pa);

(7)

where b is the flow shrinkage factor (-), which is

the ratio of the volume at the standard state V0 (m3)
to that at the current state V (m3), especially for
gas. Mass m (kg) is a constant.
Substituting (6) and (7) into (5) plus if source/sink
term is considered yields

xi

+ q s + q g + Rs q w =

permeability tensor of the media (m2), p is

pressure of the flow (Pa), g is gravitational
acceleration (m/sec2), X 3 represents the vertical
coordinate (m), and is flow specific gravity
(N/m3).
Due to the fact that only the isothermal mechanism
is considered throughout this paper, the energy
conservation equation has been omitted.
In equation (5),

V m
= b 0 = 0
V V0

k
p

+ j 3 + q = (b S ) (8)
b K ij

t

xj

pw is pressure of water (Pa); the difference of

pressures of gas and water which is called

capillary pressure depends on saturation of
water or gas;
n = n g , where n = n (p n ) is phase mass
density (kg/m3) and g is gravitational
acceleration (9.8 m/sec2);
Z = X 3 is elevation (m);
Rs = Rs (pw ) is gas solubility (-) in water;
q is source/sink term with regard to gas
(sm3/m3/sec); particularly in this paper, q s will
represent the diffusive flow rate of the desorbed
methane from the microscopic primary porosity

where subscript represents the phase of flows,

e.g., =' w' represents water flow and =' g'
represents gas flow; j 3 is Kronecker delta; q in
the form of volumetric flow rate (m3/sec) represents
a well source if it is positive or a well sink if
negative. But the mass transfer between the phases
that relates to a thermodynamical behavior is
beyond the scope of this paper and therefore, not
included.

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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

in coal matrix to the macroscopic permeable

natural cleats (COMET2 Users Guide, 1998);
is the effective porosity for water or gas
permeable flows and if necessary = (p w ) ;

[ Aw ]mk { p g }k + [ Fw ]mk

[A ]
[F ]

g mk

d
(R s bw S w ) = S w n ( n bw R s + bw n +1 R s n +1 )
dt
n +1
n +1
p& w + n+1bw Rs S& w

e =1

(17)

, n +1
N k
k rg
k pg

dVe
+ R0 rw K ij

x j
P

g
w
0

= N m + pg

[H ]

g mk

(11)

N m
Ve x
i

g mk

The time derivative in R.H.S. of the dominant

equations can be deduced as functions that
explicitly depend on the time derivatives of water
pressure p& w and water saturation S&w .

d
b g S g = S g n ( n b g + b g n +1 ) p& g n +1b g n +1 S& w
dt

{Q }

g m

(12)

Ve

e =1

){

r 1 + (R0 1)S w ,n +1

Ve

e =1

pg

P0

N k dVe

p g ,n +1
dS
= N m ( u g R0 u w )i ni
Se
P0 e
e =1

Ve

e =1

N m
xi

krg
p , n +1
k
dVe

g + R0 rw w Ki 3 g

w P0
g

N m (q g + R0 q w ) dVe

where the superscripts n and n + 1 indicate the

variable value at time t and t + t respectively.
Thus, the dominant simultaneous equations (9) and
(10) can be rewritten as:

{C } =

N m (q s ) dVe

[bg M g ( p + g Z ) + Rs bw M w ( p + w Z )]

[Aw ]mk = V
e =1

(14)

[bw M w ( p + w Z )] = d 21 p& g + d 22 S& w

(15)

d11 = (1 S n )( n bg + bg

d12 =

n +1

(bg

n +1

+ bw

n +1

n+1

Rs

d 22 =

2.4

bw

[H w ]mk = V
e =1

{Q w }m = S

e =1

{G w }m = V
e =1

{D w }m = V

Finite element numerical discretization

e =1

Discretizing equations (9) and (10) by taking

advantage of Galerkin method and Gauss
Divergence Theorem yields
[ Ag ]mk { p g }k + [ Fg ]mk

{ }

{ p g }k
t

+ [ H g ]mk

+ {D g }m + {C g }m

k rw
N k

K ij
dVe
x j
w

N m S w r N k dVe

e =1

n +1

= {Q g }m G g

N m
e x
i

n +1
d 21 = S n ( n bw + bw )
n +1

Ve

[Fw ]mk = V

n+1
n +1

) + S n ( n bn Rs + bw Rs )

n +1

e =1

where zero capillary pressure is assumed, i.e.,

p g = p w , and

Ve

e =1
N

g m

g m

, n +1

{D } =

(13)

}P1 N dV
0

g m

, n +1

= N m (R0 1)

{G } =

= d11 p& g + d12 S& w

{S w }k
t

where

The procedure for time dependent terms

d
( bw S w ) = S w n ( n bw + bw n +1 ) p& w + n +1bw n +1 S& w
dt

+ [ H w ]mk

= {Qw}m {Gw }m + {Dw }m

The phase saturation (-) must of course satisfy

S g + S w = 1 .0 .
2.3

{ p g }k

N m N k dVe

N m ( u w )i n i dS e
N m k rw
w K i 3 dVe
xi w
N m ( q w ) dV e

where subscript e = 1, 2, N is the element number

in sequence; superscript N is the total number of
elements; subscript m is the number of a grid point
in global sequence; subscript k is the number of a
grid point within an element but expressed in global
sequence; subscript m , k is the index indicating

{S w }k
t

(16)
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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

the position within the matrix; superscript on the

pressure and saturation, i.e., n + 1 represents the
next time step to be sought and represents the
iteration steps; N = N (x, y, z ) is the interpolation
(shape) function ( N k ) corresponding to each grid
point of element; the weight coefficient ( N m ) in the
method of weighted residual is the same as the
corresponding shape function based on Galerkin
method; P0 is pressure at reference condition; R0 is
solubility of gas into water at reference pressure P0
and R0 = R s ( P0 p g ) ; r is compressibility of rock

To implicitly solve equation (18), the equation is

written as:

[F ]mm {p } +1,n +1 = {B} + [F ]mm {p } n

[ A]mk + mk
g k
g m
m
t
t

(19)
where {B}m = {Q}m {G}m + {D}m + {C }m .
Considering the computational efficiency in the
practical application, the linear type of tetrahedron,
pentahedron or hexahedron elements as shown in
Fig. 2 are used. The shapes of the elements are
regular in the local coordinate system and take on a
general form after being mapped into the global
coordinate system. They can be used to constitute
various shapes of finite elements with four, five, six,
seven or eight nodes. There are first, second and
third orders of Gauss numerical integration for
different accuracy requirements.

in = 0 + r ( p g P0 ) , where 0 is the porosity at

reference pressure P0 ; the flow rates of gas and

water
are
expressed
as
p g

K ij
+ g j3
x j

p
k
= rw K ij w + w j 3
x j

(u g )i = rg
(u w )i

and
,

where

ij

is

1 , if j = i
.
0 , if j i

Kroneker Delta Function, i.e., ij =

Additionally, coefficient matrix of each time

differential term needs to be diagonally
[Fg ]mk = [Fg ]mk mk ,
concentrated,
i.e.,

[Fw ]mk = [Fw ]mk mk ,

[H w ]mk = [H w ]mk mk .

[H g ]mk = [H g ]mk mk

Tetrahedron
Tetrahedron
gridpoints)
points)
(4(4grid

,
Fig. 2

Using the addition and subtraction method, the time

differential terms with regard to saturation can be
eliminated from equations (16) and (17) so that the
pressure will be sought after. The saturation can
then be renewed by substituting sought pressure
into either equation (16) or (17). Eliminating the
saturation term yields

[A]mk {p g }k + [F ]mm

{Pg }m
t

= {Q}m {G}m + {D}m + {C}m

Pentahedron
Pentahedron
(6(6
grid
gridpoints)
points)

Hexahedron
Hexahedron
(8 (8
grid
points)
grid
point)

The linear elements used in the developed

simulator.

Newton iteration is used to solve the non-linear

system and CG (Conjugate Gradient) method is
used to solve the formed linear matrix equations at
each iteration step. When the relative changes in
primary variables at any element approach the set
tolerances consistently, one time step is completed.
The accuracy of a solution in some cases (e.g.,
where a variable distributes at high gradient
needing to be correctly captured) depends on
whether the geometric grid is fine or coarse.

(18)

where

[A]mk = [Ag ]mk [H w ]mm [Aw ]mk [H g ]mm

[F ]mm = [Fg ]m [H w ]mm [Fw ]m [H g ]mm
{Q}m = {Qg }m [H w ]mm {Qw }m [H g ]mm
{G}m = {Gg }[H w ]mm {Gw }[H g ]mm
{D}m = {Dg }m [H w ]mm {Dw }m [H g ]mm
{C}m = {C g }[H w ]mm

2.5

Formulations of sorption/diffusion

In the case of coal bed gas extraction, methane

adsorbed upon the internal surface of the primary
porosity is at first desorbed and then diffuses into
the secondary fractures, i.e., the coal cleat system
and other natural fractures. It then starts to flow
there complying with Darcy law in the multiphase
form coupling with the flow of water (King, Ertekin

231

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

projects were carried out after the computation

examples were performed.

and Schwerer, 1986; Kolesar, Ertekin and Obut,

1990).
The source or sink term of gas adsorption/diffusion
is:

3.1 Gushing gas prediction simulation

contributing to the ventilation design for
underground excavation of a nuclear waste
disposal site

q sm = 0 q s = 0 (1 )

t
=& 0 (1 )

1 n
C n C n +1
= 0
C C n +1
t

As shown in figures 3, 4 and 5, in order to

reproduce the practical underground stepwise
excavation procedure, the model produced is
3000 m long, 3000 m wide and 1000 m deep and
the total number of elements and grid points are
31,076 and 31,640, respectively. The sizes of the
element vary from smaller than 0.5 m to about
500 m. The computational time is longer than 24
hours.

(20)

where

1
1
C n +1 = C n exp t + Ce 1 exp t

1
= C e + C n C e exp t

(21)

qsm is

source/sink of gas sorption/diffusion

(kg/m3/sec);
0 is gas density under the standard condition (gas
pressure = 1 atm) (kg/m3);
is sorption time (sec), which is decided by
diffusion coefficient and Warren/Root shape
factor (Warren and Root, 1963);
CL is Langmuir concentration (St. m3/m3);

300 0
300 0

100 0

PL is Langmuir pressure (Pa);

C is instant concentration, i.e., gas volume under
standard condition contained in unit volume of
coal matrix at present (St. m3/m3);
Pd is critical desorption pressurePa

Fig. 3

Model appearance.

Ce is

equilibrium concentration decided by

Langmuir formula, which is the boundary
condition of fracture for diffusion (St m3/m3);
Ventilator shaft

C L Pd
P + P , if pg Pd
L
d
Ce =
CL pg

, if p g < Pd
PL + p g

(22)

West shaft

East shaft

3. PRACTICAL APPLICATION IN
CONSULTING PROJECTS

After this simulator is developed, it is verified by

some simple and self-evident computation
examples, where special attention is paid to the
mass conservation between the volumetric change
of water and gas contents and the corresponding
temporal accumulative flow rates. The following

Fig. 4

232

Excavation (shaft/tunnel) systemhorizontal

section view.

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

standard condition is 0.033 along with a density of

0.717 kg/m3 and a viscosity of 1.1 10 5 Pa. sec.

GL

Vetilation shaft
West shaft

East shaft
70m gallery

Table 1 The hydraulic properties of sedimentary layers.

140m gallery

Depth (m)

210m gallery

0-140
140-280
280-345
345-375
375-400
400-500
500-530
530-1000

280m gallery

400m gallery
GL-415m
500m gallery

Hydraulic conductivity
(m/sec)
1.80e-8
1.76e-9
1.76e-9
1.76e-9
1.76e-9
1.67e-8
6.76e-11
6.76e-11

Porosity
0.628
0.576
0.448
0.448
0.448
0.383
0.363
0.363

GL-530m

Fig. 5

The initial water and gas pressure is from 1 atm to

101 atm according to the depth. The initial water
saturation is 100% and 98% in both cases. The front,
back, left and right outside faces of the model are
far enough from the excavation part and are set as
impermeable boundaries. The top ground surface
and the bottom of the model are set at fixed
pressures of 1 atm and 101 atm respectively. The
newborn boundary representing the excavation
opening is set at the atmospheric pressure, i.e., fixed
pressure at 1 atm.
The instant flow analysis along with the stepwise
boundary condition change according to the design
during the excavation schedule for a total of 90
months. As an example, Table 2 shows the
excavation process of the shafts.

Excavation (shaft/tunnel) systemvertical

section view.

According to the geological study and

measurement, the hydraulic conductivity varies
from 1.80 10 8 to 6.76 10 11 m/sec, the porosity
ranges from 0.628 to 0.363 and the depth varies
from 140 m to 1000 m (Table 1 refers). In the
simulation, the absolute permeability is known by
the exchange from the hydraulic conductivity. The
heterogeneity of permeability and the capillary
pressure are neglected. A typical relative
permeability coefficient for sandstone is adopted
(Paul and Dean, 1990). The solubility of gas at

Table 2 The schedule for shaft excavation (unit: month).

Shaft
-50m
-70m
-140m
-210m
-280m
-400m
-500m
-530m

Ventilation shaft
Start
2
9
11
16
21
27
37
-

End
6
10
15
20
25
34
43
-

Period
4
1
4
4
4
7
6
-

East shaft
Start
7
14
17
26
30
47
76
86

233

End
11
16
21
29
34
54
82
88

West shaft
Period
4
2
4
3
4
7
6
2

Start
44
51
52
59
62
66
88
-

End
48
52
56
62
66
73
89
-

Period
4
1
4
3
4
7
1
-

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

The change in total gas content over each adjoining

month can be seen in Fig. 6. Fig. 7 shows the flow
rate of output gas during the 90 months of gradual
excavation.

mining advancing attract equal interest compared

with the CBM (Coal Bed Methane) projects which
extract coal gas from ground surface. China releases
about 9 billion m3 methane into the atmosphere by
coal mine ventilation every year. Only 9% of this
release is recovered and re-utilized. The following
simulation was applied to a Japanese coal mine. In
Japan, the development of a simulator applicable to
CMM was active among a loose consortium.

6.1213E +09

4.11805E +09

6.1212E +09

4.11804E +09

6.1211E +09

4.11803E +09
4.11802E +09

6.1210E +09

4.11801E +09

6.1209E +09

Gas

Water

6.1208E +09
6.1207E +09
6.1206E +09

4.11800E +09
4.11799E +09
4.11798E +09

3
m3)
Content of water
(m
)

3
Content of gas (m
)
m3)

Change of cont ent s

100m

4.11797E +09
0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 78 84 90

255.6

M ont h

Fig. 6

1400m

Change of gas content with time.

845m

Gas flowout rate (m3/min)

1.0E+00
9.0E-01
8.0E-01
7.0E-01
6.0E-01
Qg 5.0E-01
4.0E-01
3.0E-01
2.0E-01
1.0E-01
0.0E+00

Ini Sw 98%

Model appearance and illustration of mining

advancing inside the model.

-700.0m
12.15m
0

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Ini Sw 100%

Sandstone

12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 78 84 90
Months

14.35m

Coal

Gas gushing rate results.

Sandstone

8.7m

Furthermore, the portion of gas emission from

excavated tailing could also be taken into account in
this consulting project. Some typical sizes and
regular shapes of models are used to represent the
tailings to calculate how much gas and water flow
pass through the system after a certain period of
time. According to the statistical regularity of
excavated tailing, the contribution of this portion of
gas emission is also considered. However, the
amount of gas emission is very minimal in this
study.

1.05m
2.9m

Shale
Sandstone
Sandy shale
Coal
Sandstone
Coal

10.5m

Sandstone

3.3m
4.5m

-750.0m

5.0m

2.3m

3.2 Simulation to predict methane gas flow

induced by both boring and excavation in a coal
mine

33.75m

-800.5m

In China, CMM (Coal Mine Methane) projects

which extract coal gas underground along with
Fig. 9
234

Geological layers in the model.

Sandy shale

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

As shown in figures 8 and 9, the model ranges over

coal seams and rock layers at a mine with a depth of
700~800 m. Among the three coal seams, mining is
targeted at the middle one, which has a thickness of
2.3 m. In this model, the total number of elements
and grid points are 10,182 and 11,776 respectively.

The mined area is 235 m wide and 255.6 m long.

Three tunnels were made. Two with 5 m side of
cross section extend 800 m long. One with 4 m side
of cross section is 235 m long. Totally 21 gas
extraction boring holes with a diameter of 80 mm
were distributed at different locations with different
angles as illustrated in Fig. 10.
Properties of rock used in the model are shown in
Table 3. The solubility of methane into water is
0.033 volumetric fraction under 1 atm pressure. The
typical values of relative permeability for coal and
rocks were used (Paul and Dean, 1990).
The initial water and gas pressure is 71~81.05 atm
linearly distributed along with a depth of
700~800 m. The initial water saturation for coal is
10% and for other rocks 100%. The outer
boundaries are hydraulically closed. The newly
exposed boundaries by mining advancing are
pressure-fixed type. The pressure is set at 1 atm.
The elements where boring holes go through are set
as boring elements. The central gas pressure is also
set at 1atm.
The mining advancing steps are shown in Table 4.

Fig. 10 An example of boring distribution.

Table 3 The properties used in the model.
Partition

Permeability

Porosity

Density

Unit
Sandstone
Sandy shale
Shale
Coal

(md)
0.1
0.01
0.001
1.0

(%)
10
1
1
10

(kg/m3)
2500
2500
2500
1500

Ad/Desorption
constant (a)
(MPa-1)
0
0
0
0.6

Ad/Desorption
constant (b)
(m3/t)
0
0
0
21

Table 4 The coal mining schedule and computational steps.

Step
Unit
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Excavation
forward
m
18.4
35.6
32.6
18.9
23.6
29.0
22.1
36.5
31.0
7.9

Cumulative
excavation
m
18.4
54.0
86.6
105.5
129.1
158.1
180.2
216.7
247.7
255.6

235

Time stepwise
hr
96
96
96
96
96
96
96
96
96
72

Cumulative time
used
hr
96
192
288
384
480
576
672
768
864
936

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

The computational time is about 8 hours. As

expected, the gas volume from its initial content
reduces (Fig. 11 refers) and the emission rate of gas
along with mining advancing decreases (shown in
Fig. 12). The gas emission rate, which gives very
useful information to mitigate migration of gas to
the atmosphere, from each boring hole is another
output taken from the study. As an example, the gas
emission rates of three boring holesout of a total
of 21, are shown in Fig. 13. Gas emission rate
remains nearly constant up to 600 hours, and then
there is a rapid decrease followed by a rapid
increase in emission.

Gas emission rate from each boring holeDistance 320 m

3.5E-01

2.5E-01
No_17(m3/min)
No_18(m3/min)
No_19(m3/min)

2.0E-01
1.5E-01
1.0E-01

Gas emission rate (m /m)

3.0E-01

5.0E-02
0.0E+00
0

200

400

600

800

1000

Timehr

Fig. 13 Findingsgas emission rates of sampled boring

holes.

4. CONCLUSIONS

Change of gas content

8.0E+07

1.616E+07

The two-phase flow simulator which is based on a

finite element method was developed and verified.
It has been applied to two consulting projects in
practice. The simulator was then integrated into a
developed pre-post processor, which is a user
friendly interface at a commercial simulation level.
In addition, a manual in Japanese, English and
Chinese has been prepared for this software product.
It can be expected to play an active role in future
engineering projects conducted in the related fields.

7.0E+07
Total/Free gas content(m3)

6.0E+07

4.0E+07
3.0E+07

1.614E+07

2.0E+07

Resolute gasm3

1.615E+07

5.0E+07

Free
Total
Resoluted

1.0E+07
0.0E+00

1.613E+07
0

200

400
600
Timehr

800

1000

Fig. 11 Findingschange of gas content.

REFERENCES
Change of gas gushing amount
35

18

30

16

25

14
12

20

10
15

8
6

10

0
0

200

400

600

800

Excavated coal gushingm3/min

Coal layer gushingm3/min

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From coal layer

From excavated coal

1000

Timehr

Fig. 12 Findingschange of gas emission rates.

236

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

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