Prediction of coal and gas outburst risk by fuzzy rock engineering system

The sudden outburst of coal and gas is a complex and dynamic incident in the underground coal mines, resulting in the release of thousands of tons of coal and large amounts of gas into the working face within a short time. Due to a rise in the number of exploitations and the depth of extractions, the intensity, and frequency of explosions have increased in recent years. Consequently, these explosions have endangered miners’ health and safety, brought about equipment loss and seriously affected coal production. To overcome these obstacles, the first step is to predict the occurrence of such incidents in the coal mines. There are a lot of factors playing a part in the sudden outburst of coal and gas, which can be categorized into natural and operational parameters, each of which has a different role. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to predict the possibility of gas outburst in coal seams. For this purpose, ten parameters are considered as the main variables influencing the outburst of coal and gas. To study the interrelation between these determining parameters as well as the uncertainty of the effect of one parameter on another, a fuzzy interaction matrix based on Fuzzy Rock Engineering System (FRES) has been employed. To evaluate the capability and efficiency of the proposed classification system, the C1 coal seam of Tabas coal mine is selected, and the proposed index is used to investigate the potential risk of the outburst in this mine. Index as mentioned earlier could be utilized as a basis through which one can decide on the possibility of the outburst of coal and gas in coal mines to reduce the risks of this incident.