Numerical Analysis of Leakage and Diffusion Characteristics of In-Situ Coal Gas with Complex Components

To alleviate the shortage of natural gas supply, the in-situ conversion of coal to natural gas is more beneficial for advancing the clean and efficient use of energy. Since in-situ coal gas contains complex components, such as H2, CH4, and CO, their leakage poses a serious risk to human life and property. Currently, the area of consequence of the harm caused by a leak in a gathering pipeline transporting in-situ coal gas has not been clarified. Therefore, this paper adopted the method of numerical simulation to pre-study the concentration distribution of each component and determined that the main components of concern are CO and H2 components. Afterward, the diffusion law of in-situ coal gas is analyzed and studied under different working conditions, such as wind speed, temperature, pipe diameter, leakage direction, and leakage aperture ratio. The results indicate that when a pipeline leak occurs, the CO component has the largest influence range. With increasing wind speed, the warning boundary of CO rapidly expands downwind, then gradually diminishes, reaching a peak value of 231.62 m at 7 m/s. The range of influence of the leaked gas is inversely proportional to temperature and directly proportional to pipe diameter and leakage aperture ratio. When the gas leaks laterally, the diffusion early warning boundary value of each component is maximal. Among them, the leakage aperture ratio has a significant impact on the concentration distribution of in-situ coal gas, whereas the effect of temperature is relatively minor. This study contributes to an understanding of the leakage and diffusion characteristics of in-situ coal gas-gathering pipelines.