Abstract
Mine dust is one of the most serious environmental hazards in the coal mining process. This paper introduces a numerical simulation of a novel foam generator used for dust control in coal mines. The amount of foam generated by this device significantly depends on the amount of air entrainment. Therefore, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method was used to study three influencing factors, namely, throat-nozzle distance, mixing throat length, and the contraction angle of the suction chamber. The predicted values by the CFD simulation proved to be in good agreement with the experimental data. The results revealed that the air entrainment reached its maximum when the ratio of throat-nozzle distance to mixing throat length was 2/3. The optimum values of the throat ratio (its length to diameter) and the contraction angle of the suction chamber were obtained at 20 and 5°, respectively. This research provides essential guidance in the geometric parameter design of the self-suction type foam generator, which has the advantage of negating the need for compressed-air pipelines and having high reliability, compared to traditional foam generators.
Highlights
Mine dust is one of the most serious hazards in coal mines; it severely pollutes the air in underground working environments [1, 2], leads to dust explosions and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), and can result in casualties and economic loss in coal mines [3,4,5]
This paper introduces a numerical simulation of a novel foam generator used for dust control in coal mines
The results revealed that the air entrainment reached its maximum when the ratio of throat-nozzle distance to mixing throat length was 2/3
Summary
Mine dust is one of the most serious hazards in coal mines; it severely pollutes the air in underground working environments [1, 2], leads to dust explosions and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), and can result in casualties and economic loss in coal mines [3,4,5]. There are various technologies for mine dust control, such as water sprays [8,9,10,11,12], air-curtains [13, 14], dust collectors [15], wetting agents (surfactants) [16, 17], and foams [18, 19]. In order to overcome such drawbacks, a novel foam generator with air self-suction has been developed [22]. In this generator, the pressurized water is the power and used as the driven fluid, and the air and foaming agent are automatically sucked into the induction chamber by the negative pressure formed by the water jet. The water, air, and foaming agent are mixed in the mixing chamber, producing the primary foam, which will be enhanced by the swirler in the foaming chamber
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