Characterization of dynamic mechanical alterations of supercritical CO2-interacted coal through gamma-ray attenuation, ultrasonic and X-ray computed tomography techniques

Abstract

Coal-Supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) interaction causes severe mechanical alterations in coal that can possibly affect the mechanical competency and the coal seam integrity. Conventional static mechanical testings often fail to conduct repetitive and temporal measurements on coal specimens in the process of coal-S-CO2 interaction, thus unable to attain at decisive and reliable conclusions. Moreover, the said techniques fail to capture the mechanical anisotropies of heterogeneous coal mass that arise due to complex spatial distribution of mineral/maceral phases and fracture network. We combine three non-destructive techniques, viz. gamma-ray attenuation, ultrasonic technique and micro computed tomo..