Monte-Carlo Method for Coalbed Methane Resource Assessment in Key Coal Mining Areas of China

Abstract

Monte-Carlo method is used for estimating coalbed methane (CBM) resources in key coal mining areas of China. Monte-Carlo method is shown to be superior to the traditional volumetric method with constant parameters in the calculation of CBM resources. The focus of the article is to introduce the main algorithm and the realization of functions estimated by Monte-Carlo method, including selection of parameters, determination of distribution function, generation of pseudo-random numbers, and evaluation of the parameters corresponding to pseudo-random numbers. A specified software on the basis of Monte-Carlo method is developed using Visual C++ for the assessment of the CBM resources. A case study shows that calculation results using Monte-Carlo method have smaller error range in comparison with those using volumetric method.