Abstract
A calibrated and well-tuned ventilation network model plays a critical role in mine ventilation planning, optimization, and ventilation control. Moreover, it is critical to the mine fire simulation program as well since the fire simulation is built upon the mine ventilation model. The contaminants generated from a fire are transported by airflows throughout the mine ventilation system. The accuracy of the fire simulation results not only depends on the fire source model itself but also on the ventilation network model. With the increasing use of atmospheric monitoring systems in underground mines, airflow is continuously monitored using airflow sensors in the key areas of mines to ensure a steady and reliable ventilation. Experimental studies have been conducted at an experimental mine, the Safety Research Coal Mine (SRCM), to gain a better understanding on how to use the continuously monitored airflow data to improve the calibration of the mine ventilation network model. This paper introduces an improved method to calibrate a ventilation network using continuous airflow monitoring and addresses the practical problems encountered while calibrating and tuning the ventilation network of the SRCM using continuously monitored airflow data. In this study, the fluctuation of the air velocity sensor readings is analyzed, and the sensor location correction factors are applied to obtain a more accurate average air velocity for the ventilation network calibration.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank John Soles and Jarod Myers of the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division for conducting the full-scale AMS test. Data from this manuscript had been presented at the virtual 18th North American Mine Ventilation Symposium, June 12-17, 2021.
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Zhou, L., Thomas, R.A., Yuan, L. et al. Experimental Study of Improving a Mine Ventilation Network Model Using Continuously Monitored Airflow. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 39, 887–895 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-022-00574-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-022-00574-4