To solve the problems that the borehole depth is shallow and the borehole formation rate is low during the gas drainage drilling in soft coal seam with current cuttings removal method, a new technology of reverse circulation pneumatic cuttings removal is put forward. The CFD-DEM coupling method is used to establish the simulation model of cuttings-air two-phase flow in drill pipe. The effects of the air velocity for cuttings removal and the mass flow rate of cuttings on the flow characteristics, cuttings removal effect and pressure drop of cuttings-gas two-phase flow are analysed. The results show that the drag force of drilling cuttings becomes larger with the increase of air velocity and the stratified flow characteristic is obvious. The drill cuttings migration ratio is positively correlated with the air velocity for cuttings removal and negatively correlated with the mass flow rate of cuttings. When the mass flow rate of cuttings is constant, the increase of air velocity for cuttings removal leads to the increase of pressure drop in the inner hole of drill pipe. When the air velocity of cuttings removal is constant, the mass flow rate of cuttings and the pressure drop in the inner hole of drill pipe increases. Therefore, the appropriate air velocity should be selected considering the energy consumption during cuttings removal.
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