Peer Review History

Original SubmissionJune 16, 2020
Decision Letter - Jianguo Wang, Editor

PONE-D-20-18356

Borehole diameter shrinkage rule considering rheological properties and its effect on gas extraction

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Hao,

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Jianguo Wang, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

**********

5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: 1. Please analyze the effect of permeability on gas extraction effect.

2. It is recommended to re-consolidate the abstract of the manuscript to make it reflect the subject more accurately.

3. It is recommended to modify the format of the manuscript formula to meet the style of this journal.

4. It is recommended to carefully revise the manuscript references.

5. Some special nouns are unified, such as "ground stress",” geo-stress”.

6. How to judge that the low gas concentration of the boreholes is caused by creep deformation but not other factors ?

7.There are many factors that cause low gas extraction concentration, it is recommended to explain in the introduction.

8. There are some small errors in the paper, such as “The displacements at the junction between the the plastic softening zone and the damaged zone are equal”.It is recommended to review the paper carefully.

Reviewer #2: In the manuscript, a visco-elastoplastic model for boreholes considering the strain softening and dilatancy and rheological properties was established, boreholes diameter shrinkage rule in soft and hard coal seams were comparatively analyzed, the reasons for the rapid reduction in the extraction concentration of the borehole in soft coal seams were described, and a technology of improving gas extraction effect of soft coal seams was developed. This topic is interesting and worth of studying, the results of manuscript are innovative. However, the manuscript needs minor revision before acceptance for publication:

1.Both permeability and borehole plugging have a large impact on the gas extraction effect. Please analyze which factor has the greater influence?

2. How to determine when plugging occurs by numerical calculation?

3. There is a small mistake in section 3.3, “For a borehole with an initial diameter of 97 mm” should be “For a borehole with an initial diameter of 94 mm”.

4. There are several spelling errors, please check them carefully and improve it fluently.

**********

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Revision 1

Dear editor and reviewers,

Thank you very much for the valuable comments of the editor and reviewers. We have revised the manuscript and responds to each point raised by the editor and reviewers.

Reviewer #1:

1. Please analyze the effect of permeability on gas extraction effect.

Permeability is an important indicator that affects the difficulty of gas extraction. When a smooth extraction channel is maintained, the higher the permeability, the better the gas extraction effect; when the extraction channel is blocked, even if the coal seam permeability is high, It is also difficult to extract gas effectively.

2. It is recommended to re-consolidate the abstract of the manuscript to make it reflect the subject more accurately.

We have re-condensed the abstract of the manuscript.

3. It is recommended to modify the format of the manuscript formula to meet the style of this journal.

We revised the formula of the manuscript in accordance with the format requirements of PLOS ONE.

4. It is recommended to carefully revise the manuscript references.

We have revised the manuscript references in accordance with the format requirements of PLOS ONE.

5. Some special nouns are unified, such as "ground stress",” geo-stress”.

We have unified the nouns exclusive to the manuscript.

6. How to judge that the low gas concentration of the boreholes is caused by creep deformation but not other factors ?

Maintaining a smooth extraction channel is the key to improving gas extraction effect. The coal body around the borehole will produce creep deformation, which may block the gas extraction channel. Once the extraction channel is blocked, it is difficult to improve the extraction effect even if the extraction time is extended.

7.There are many factors that cause low gas extraction concentration, it is recommended to explain in the introduction.

The main factors affecting the concentration of gas extraction are gas extraction channels, coal seam permeability, borehole sealing quality, coal seam gas content and other factors. Various factors have been analyzed in the introduction of the manuscript.

8. There are some small errors in the paper, such as “The displacements at the junction between the the plastic softening zone and the damaged zone are equal”.It is recommended to review the paper carefully.

We carefully revised the content of the paper, found several errors, and showed them in the revised manuscript.

Reviewer #2:

In the manuscript, a visco-elastoplastic model for boreholes considering the strain softening and dilatancy and rheological properties was established, boreholes diameter shrinkage rule in soft and hard coal seams were comparatively analyzed, the reasons for the rapid reduction in the extraction concentration of the borehole in soft coal seams were described, and a technology of improving gas extraction effect of soft coal seams was developed. This topic is interesting and worth of studying, the results of manuscript are innovative. However, the manuscript needs minor revision before acceptance for publication:

1.Both permeability and borehole plugging have a large impact on the gas extraction effect. Please analyze which factor has the greater influence?

Permeability and extraction channels are the two main factors that affect the effect of gas extraction. When a smooth extraction channel is maintained, the higher the permeability, the better the gas extraction effect; when the extraction channel is blocked, even the permeability is very high and it is difficult to effectively extract gas.

2. How to determine when plugging occurs by numerical calculation?

We have established a viscoelastic-plastic mechanical model of the coal body around the borehole, obtained the expression of the borehole wall displacement, and analyzed the variation of the borehole diameter with time. When the borehole diameter is reduced to 0, the borehole is considered to be blocked.

3. There is a small mistake in section 3.3, “For a borehole with an initial diameter of 97 mm” should be “For a borehole with an initial diameter of 94 mm”.

In response to this error, we revised it in the revised manuscript.

4. There are several spelling errors, please check them carefully and improve it fluently.

We have invited Elsevier to re-edit and polish the manuscript.

Best regards.

Fuchang Hao

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx
Decision Letter - Jianguo Wang, Editor

Borehole diameter shrinkage rule considering rheological properties and its effect on gas extraction

PONE-D-20-18356R1

Dear Dr. Hao,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Jianguo Wang, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Jianguo Wang, Editor

PONE-D-20-18356R1

Borehole diameter shrinkage rule considering rheological properties and its effect on gas extraction

Dear Dr. Hao:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org.

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

Kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Dr. Jianguo Wang

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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