Introduction: Why a Book on the "Geomechanics of Coal Seams"? xi Jean-Michel PEREIRA and Matthieu VANDAMME -- Chapter 1. Coal, Its Genesis, Its Characteristics 1 Didier BONIJOLY -- 1.1. Definition -- 1.2. Deposition conditions -- 1.3. The major periods of coal deposition -- 1.4. Coalification process -- 1.5. Coal classification -- 1.6. Coal gas -- 1.7. Coal availability, resources and reserves -- 1.8. The uses of coal -- 1.9. Coal gas exploitation -- 1.10. Coal and climate change -- 1.11. Acknowledgments -- 1.12. References -- Chapter 2. Hydrogeology of Fractured Media -- With Special Reference to Coalbeds 51 Derek ELSWORTH, Jishan LIU, Shimin LIU, Brandon SCHWARTZ and Shugang WANG -- 2.1. Introduction -- 2.2. Controls on groundwater flow -- 2.3. Characterization methods -- 2.4. Permeability evolution models -- 2.5. Summary -- 2.6. References -- Chapter 3. Measurement of Coal Physical Properties: Poromechanical and Adsorption Testing 85 D. Nicolas ESPINOZA -- 3.1. Introduction -- 3.2. Pressure, stress and strains in geological formations -- 3.3. Total gas-in-place and adsorption measurement -- 3.4. Adsorption-induced strains -- 3.5. Adsorption-induced stresses -- 3.6. Reservoir scale implications -- 3.7. Conclusions -- 3.8. References -- Chapter 4. Poromechanical Modeling of Coal Material 117 Matthieu VANDAMME, Jean-Michel PEREIRA and David GRÉGOIRE -- 4.1. Relevant scale for material modeling -- 4.2. Physics of the phenomena involved -- 4.3. Classical poromechanical modeling of a saturated material in the absence of sorption -- 4.4. Poromechanical modeling of microporous materials undergoing sorption -- 4.5. Examples of possible model enhancements -- 4.6. Limitations and perspectives of the models -- 4.7. References -- Chapter 5. Molecular Scale Modeling of Coal and Its Behavior 165 Laurent BROCHARD, Christelle MIQUEU and David GRÉGOIRE -- 5.1. Introduction -- 5.2. Nature of coal at the molecular scale -- 5.3. Atomic simulations of adsorption in coals -- 5.4. Adsorption modeling using DFT -- 5.5. Mechanics-adsorption coupling -- 5.6. Conclusion -- 5.7. References -- Chapter 6. Reservoir-Scale Modeling 211 Patrick DANGLA -- 6.1. Introduction -- 6.2. Isothermal constitutive laws of coal in the presence of adsorbates -- 6.3. Reservoir scale field equations -- 6.4. Numerical solution via the finite element method -- 6.5. Application examples -- 6.6. Conclusion -- 6.7. References -- Chapter 7. Multiscale Modeling 243 François BERTRAND and Frédéric COLLIN -- 7.1. Introduction -- 7.2. Principles of the FE2 method -- 7.3. Hydro-mechanical model -- 7.4. Application -- 7.5. Conclusion -- 7.6. References -- List of Authors -- Index.