Enhancing fire safety in underground mines: Experimental and large eddy simulation of temperature attenuation, gas evolution, and bifurcation influence for improved emergency response

Abstract

The occurrence of underground mine fires remains a significant and persistent safety challenge in the mining industry, posing imminent risks to both miners' lives and the operational integrity of mining facilities. Current underground mine fire studies lack scale accuracy due to lab experiments and fail to consider bifurcation effects on smoke gas temperature. This study performed full-scale experiments and built validated CFD models to explore the interactive impact of ventilation and fire size on temperature attenuation, gas behavior, and CO generation in underground mines. A new empirical correlation for temperature decay in the mine drift was developed and its accuracy was compared with established models in the literature. In addition, the influence of bifurcation on maximum smoke temperature was analyzed. This research combines full-scale experiments and validated CFD modeling to address major gaps in underground mine fire studies. Unlike previous methods, this study explores the interactive effects of ventilation, fire size, temperature attenuation, and toxic gas spread, offering unprecedented insights. This innovation enables the development of tailored fire safety standards for mines, ensuring safer designs, rapid fire suppression, and improved evacuation strategies. By bridging theory and practice, this work transforms fundamental knowledge, empowering the mining industry to enhance safety measures, protect lives, and mitigate the impact of underground mine fires.