The method for precise seismic detection of geological structures in underground coal mines and application

Abstract

The occurrence of major accidents such as water inrush in coal mines and coal-gas outbursts is closely correlated with the unclear exploration of underground geological structures. Seismic exploration in underground coal mines is not limited by ground conditions and close to the detected target, so it has advantages with respect to the detection of underground geological structures. However, the geological structures leading to accidents are usually characterized by small size and diverse combinations, making it difficult to detect. In coal mine working faces, the use of transmission observation systems, combined with full waveform inversion methods, represents a new attempt at finely detecting geological structures. Therefore, a three-dimensional numerical model of an abnormal combination of faults and collapse columns was established, a physical simulation model of a multi-collapse column combination was built, and transmission and detection experiments were carried out. The results show that the morphology and locations of 1 fault and 4 collapse columns obtained by the FWI algorithm are consistent with the data from the actual numerical model. According to physical simulation results, the background velocity of the model after inversions and the velocity of 5 anomalies are consistent with the actual values. Field experiments were conducted in the actual underground coal mines. After verification, the average error ratios of the long axis, short axis and intersection angle of the 4 collapse columns were 0.19, 0.15 and 0.02. The detection findings and comparison results confirm the feasibility of precise detection of geological structures by transmissive seismic waves based on the FWI method.