Study on Mechanical Properties and Crack Propagation of Raw Coal with Different Bedding Angles based on CT Scanning

[Image: see text] The deformation and damage characteristics of coal are the important foundation that affects the fracturing potential of coal reservoirs and the development plan of coalbed methane (CBM). To reveal the influence regulation of primary fractures and the bedding angle of coal on its failure and provide theoretical basis for CBM development, raw coal samples of no 16 coal seam in Wenjiaba Coal Mine, Zhijin County, Bijie City with different bedding angles were selected as the research object, and uniaxial compression tests were carried out on them, and CT scanning and crack reconstruction before and after sample failure were carried out. The results show that (1) the compressive strength, elastic modulus, and Poisson’s ratio of coal show a strong bedding angle effect, and the changing trend of each index is basically the same. The coal samples with bedding angles of 0 and 90° are the highest, while the coal samples with bedding angles of 30° are the lowest, and the overall distribution is an approximate “U” with the increase in bedding angle. With the increase in bedding angle of 0–90°, the failure modes of coal samples are tension-shear combined failure, shear-slip failure, and splitting tension failure in turn. (2) The observation of raw coal and CT scanning show that the primary cracks in coal samples are well developed, especially in the lower part of 0° samples, the cracks in 30° samples, 60° samples, and 90° samples are evenly distributed and develop at a certain angle with the weak bedding surface, and microcracks parallel to and nearly perpendicular to the weak bedding surface are developed in 45° samples. At the same time, banded minerals in coal and rock samples are also well developed. (3) The characteristics of crack propagation and evolution in coal samples with different bedding dip angles are significantly different. The bedding dip angles and primary cracks of coal seam have a great influence on crack propagation. With different bedding angles, the propagation modes are different. The crack propagation mainly includes two ways: forming a certain angle with bedding and extending along the bedding plane. (4) The fracture characteristic parameters of coal in the primary state and after failure have the same law with the bedding dip angle, showing a trend of high at both ends and low in the middle, which is an irregular “U”-shaped distribution and has a similar law with mechanical characteristic parameters.