Deformation, Seepage, and Energy Characteristics of Gas-Containing Coal Rocks under Complex Stress Paths

The exploitation and utilization of coal resources are closely related to sustainable social and economic development. To uncover the deformation and seepage patterns of coal on the mining process, this study devised a new stress program with simultaneous changes in axial and confining pressures, then performed coal seepage experiments at various gas pressures. The results show that the residual deformation exhibited a stepwise change, the relative residual deformation at the same level decreased gradually, and the increase in gas pressure led to a reduction in residual deformation. In each stress grade, the absolute permeability damage rate increased gradually, while the relative permeability damage rate decreased with the number of cycles, and the growth of gas pressure could decrease the permeability damage rate. The higher gas pressure led to a lower average energy dissipation ratio at each stress level and increased the rate of growth of elastic energy before destruction of the specimens. A higher gas pressure led to a quicker rate of change in damage variables at high stress levels. The findings have implications for the effective mining and sustainable development of coal resources.