Abstract
Timber linings are applied as primary supports in the tunnel fault and fracture zones of mines. These linings are essential to prevent broken rock from falling during the occurrence of exogenous fires. In this study, experiments and numerical simulations were carried out using a fire dynamics simulator to investigate the flame-spread rate, flame characteristics, smoke movement, and spread process of timber-lining fires under different wind speeds of 0, 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 m/s. It was found that cross-section flame spreading follows the three-stage sidewall-ceiling-sidewall pattern. Moreover, the average flame-spread rate increases along the vertical flame-spreading direction and decreases when the flame reaches the timber-lining corners. Moreover, the flame lengths underneath the timber-lining ceiling in the x-direction are longer than those in the y-direction. As the wind speed increases, the normalized flame lengths R(f) in the two directions decrease, and the maximum temperature underneath the ceiling decreases. In addition, the maximum temperature in the three tunnel sections of interest is first recorded in the tunnel cross-section in the initial fire stage. Higher wind speeds correspond to farther distances of the maximum-temperature points of the three timber-lining sections from the fire source.
Highlights
The five major disasters that can occur in mines are fire, gas disasters, flood, dust, and roof collapse [1,2,3]
The fire behavior of timber linings under different wind speeds in the tunnel is discussed through experiments and simulations
With the increase in the wind speed, the maximum temperature in the three sections is first recorded in the tunnel cross-section farther away from the fire source along the wind direction
Summary
The five major disasters that can occur in mines are fire, gas disasters, flood, dust, and roof collapse [1,2,3]. Timber supports have been replaced by U-shaped steel or bolt-shotcrete supports; timber is still widely used as lining material to prevent rock collapse in the tunnel fault and fracture zones These linings act as fire hazards in tunnels, and they may cause timber fires, leading to substantial economic losses and casualties. It is urgently required to study the characteristics of timber-lining fires in underground mines In this context, previous works have mainly focused on smoke propagation [7,8,9,10,11,12,13], temperature distribution [14,15,16,17], and other influential factors [18] at play in underground mines or tunnels used for vehicular traffic. The study findings can provide important insights into the safety design of mining tunnels
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