Simulation of coal-bed methane and water two-phase fluid-solid coupling flow

The deformation of coal and the two-phase flow composed of coal-bed methane and water interacts during coal-bed methane extraction. Research about this interaction has long been the essential task in energy technology. In this paper, coal is assumed to have an elasto-plastic behavior. Deformation equations of coal masses are derived accordingly. The flow continuity equations are based on Darcy’s law, and the coupled equation between fluid and solid adopted was derived by Louis’s pumping test results. Flow equations are solved by the finite difference method, and the deformation model by finite element method. A case study is presented. The difference between coupled model and rigid model is compared. Results of this paper are of help in the numerical simulation of coal-bed methane development.