ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Geohazards and Georisks
This article is part of the Research TopicNatural Hazards Accompanying Underground Exploitation of Mineral Raw MaterialsView all 15 articles
Mechanism of Time-lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) Response to Mining-induced Fracture Evolution in Shallow Coal Seams: A Coupled DEM-FEM Study
Provisionally accepted
- China Coal Technology and Engineering Group Corp (China), Beijing, China
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Dynamic monitoring of the Water Flowing Fractured Zone (WCFZ) is critical for preventing water hazards in shallow coal seams, yet mapping the complex spatiotemporal evolution of mining-induced fractures to electrical signals remains challenging. This study proposes a time-lapse electrical forward modeling strategy coupling Discrete Element Method (DEM) and Finite Element Method (FEM) via Digital Image Processing (DIP). A UDEC "Brick" meshing strategy was employed to simulate overburden mechanics, while a DIP-based pixel mapping technique reconstructed true resistivity models preserving geometric anisotropy for Pole-Dipole simulations in COMSOL. Results reveal the "vertical initiation–penetration–compaction recovery" mechanism and its distinct electrical signatures. Specifically, the full penetration stage (220 m) forms short-circuit channels inducing strong low-resistivity anomalies. In the stable mining stage (400 m), the apparent resistivity section exhibits a typical "strong-side, weak-center" differentiation controlled by the "O-ring" theory. Quantitative imaging of time-lapse resistivity change rate confirms that boundary tensile zones maintain a high negative change rate of approximately -40%, while the central compacted zone recovers to about -10%. This study validates the feasibility of using time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to quantitatively evaluate the "damage-recovery" state of the goaf, providing a theoretical basis for precise water hazard monitoring.
Keywords: DEM-FEM coupling4, digital image processing (DIP)5, shallow coal seam1, time-lapse electricalresistivity tomography (ERT)3, water flowing fractured zone (WCFZ)2
Received: 31 Dec 2025; Accepted: 12 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 LI, LI, Wu and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
YUTENG LI
YUTENG LI
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