Theoretical and numerical study on critical velocity and driving force for preventing smoke backlayering in a connection roadway fire of coal mines

Abstract

H-shape tunnel is a common roadway structure in the coal mine. When a fire occurs in the connection roadway, the characteristics of smoke movement and control are different from those in the traditional single-hole tunnel. This paper studies the critical ventilation velocity and driving force for preventing smoke backlayering in a mine connection roadway fire by numerical modeling. Results indicate that when the dimensionless heat release rate (Q̇*) is less than 0.28, the dimensionless critical ventilation velocity (Vc*) varies as the 1/8 power of the dimensionless heat release rate. Beyond 0.28, Vc* remains almost constant, independent of the heat release rate. For a certain heat release rate, the critical velocity in the connection roadway is lower than that in the single-hole tunnel, which is probably attributed to the smaller ventilation resistance or the effect of the downstream flow field on the smoke backlayering front. The current study prefers to use the ventilation resistance for further analysis. Besides, a calculation model of driving force for preventing smoke backlayering in the connection roadway fire is put forward by theoretical analysis. The predictions by the proposed model are found to comply well with the numerical simulation data. The outcomings of the current study are of guiding significance for the fire prevention and smoke control in the tunnel with a similar structure.