Effect of air flowrate on pollutant dispersion pattern of coal dust particles at fully mechanized mining face based on numerical simulation

Abstract

To determine the effect of air flowrate on pollutant dispersion pattern of coal dust particles at the fully mechanized mining face, the present study aims to reduce the dust concentration through adjusting the air flowrate parameter. Specifically, the CFD-DPM based numerical simulation is conducted to investigate the pollutant dispersion of coal dust particles subject to a variety of air flowrate parameters. Results indicate that the mean airflow velocity 90–230 m away from the air inlet corner on the leeward side is merely 12% of the airflow velocity at the air inlet; the high and low dust concentration boundaries associated with the footway's breathing zone and the transport coal route's breathing zone are 120 m and 150 m away from the advancing support on the leeward side, respectively; the dust concentration is relatively low when air flowrate stays between 2600 m3/min and 3000 m3/min, an increase of air flowrate leads to dust re-entrainment phenomenon, the maximum dust concentration in footway was higher at air flowrate of 2800 m3/min than at 2600 m3/min; field measurement is carried out by adjusting the air flowrate to 2600 m3/min, while measuring airflow velocity and dust concentration, the simulation results are accurate and effective.