Measurement and Modeling of Spontaneous Capillary Imbibition in Coal

Coal is a typical dual-porosity medium. The implementation process of water invasion technology in coal is actually a process of spontaneous imbibition of external water. To obtain a model of spontaneous capillary imbibition in coal, the spontaneous imbibition of water in coal samples with different production loads is conducted experimentally. Due to the coal particle deformation and the cohesive forces, the porosity and maximum diameter decrease gradually with increasing pressing loads. Due to the filling effects and occupying effects, the proper particle grading can reduce the porosity and tortuosity. The Comiti model can be used to describe the tortuosity. The tortuosity increases with decreasing porosity. The smaller the porosity, the smoother the surface of the coal sample. The contact angle is negatively correlated with the surface roughness. The fractal dimension decreases with increasing pressing load. The difference in the pore characteristics between particles is the main reason for the difference in the fractal dimension. The proposed model of spontaneous capillary imbibition in coal is consistent with the experimental data. The implications of this study are important for understanding the law of spontaneous imbibition in coal and the displacement of gas by spontaneous capillary imbibition in coal, which is important for optimizing the parameters of coal seam water injection.