Investigation and assessment of physicomorphological and thermomechanical responses of few sedimentary rocks

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a technique used for the exploration of energy from unmineable coal seams that are uneconomical to explore by conventional mining techniques. During UCG, associated rocks (mostly sandstone and shale) are being exposed to a temperature range of 900 °C-1000 °C. This thesis aims for a micro-nano-scale investigation of the structural change of sandstone with the support of micro-CT techniques along with some experimentation in confined and unconfined conditions. The in-depth investigation includes the observation of microstructural responses, pore-space evolution and pore-network models as a function of temperatures and provides valuable information about the pore-network attributes.