摘要
Australia has developed a number of gas drainage technologies over the last twenty years and achiered significant success in gas and outburst control.The majority of coal seams in Australian coal basins are regarded as medium to highly gassy,and are prone to coal and gas outbursts.To prevent these outbursts in coal mines,Australia uses extensive gas pre-drainage techniques to reduce the virgin seam gas content below the outburst threshold levels.One of the major developments in this field in Australia is the development of directional drilling technology,which significantly increased the targeted pre-drainage capability of the coal industry.These developments have led to the prevention of outbursts and significant improvements in gas drainage performance and productivity in the coal mining industry.Goaf gas control is another major issue in most of the gassy underground coal mines due to its direct impact on safety,production delays and cost of production.Analysis of the gas data from different collieries in Australia showed that longwall gas emissions have increased substantially over the years.Simply drilling a surface goal hole into the longwall goal or increasing the number of goal holes in the panel or reducing goaf hole spacing does not seem to be effective in controlling high goal gas emissions.A number of developments have taken place in the recent years to achieve a step-change improvement in goaf gas drainage performance.A brief summary of various gas drainage technologies and practices being used in Australia and the recent developments in goal gas control strategies are summarised in this paper.