Spatial Structure Characteristics of Underground Reservoir Water Storage Space in Coal Mines Considering Shape Characteristics of Crushed Rock

In order to investigate the impact of a crushed rock shape on the storage coefficient of underground reservoirs in coal mines, statistical analysis of the shape characteristics of crushed rocks was conducted, which was followed by numerical packing tests using the rigid block model. These tests aimed to investigate the spatial structure characteristics of underground reservoir water storage space in coal mines under the influence of different shapes of crushed rock. The results demonstrated the following: (1) Crushed rock exhibits a lognormal distribution in its shape characteristic parameters at different scales with a predominant discoid shape. The shape coefficient M can be utilized as a comprehensive indicator to characterize the shape characteristics of crushed rock. (2) The average storage coefficient of crushed rock increases exponentially as the shape coefficient M increases. There is a 50.1% increase in the storage coefficient from M = 1 to 3.5. (3) The spatial structure of the water storage space exhibits self-similarity, and both the void fractal dimension and the void boundary fractal dimension increase with an increase in the shape coefficient M. (4) When comparing the non-spherical particle system with the spherical particle system, it is observed that the spherical particle system has smaller water storage space, lower connectivity among voids, and more irregular void space. In the non-spherical particle system, the water storage space becomes larger as the shape of crushed rock becomes more irregular, resulting in more irregular void space. However, there is no significant effect on void connectivity.