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The control effect of 3D spiral wind-curtain generator on respirable dust pollution during tunnelling process

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Abstract

The respirable dust pollution produced in the cutting process of tunnelling machine during tunnelling process is a serious threat to the health of workers. The key to solve this problem is to build an effective ventilation system in the tunnel. In this paper, experiments were designed and implemented to obtain the temporal–spatial evolution of respirable dust pollution before and after the 3D spiral wind-curtain generator was used for tunnel auxiliary ventilation, and the CFD method was used to supplement and visualize the experimental results. Before the 3D spiral wind-curtain generator was used, the respirable dust gradually diffused from the cutting face to other spaces of the tunnel, and finally presented a stable state with time. After using the 3D spiral wind-curtain generator for auxiliary ventilation, the dust diffusion speed in the tunnel was slower than before, and the dust concentration was lower than before. When adjusting the position of the generator and installing it 20m away from the cutting face, an effective dust control wind-curtain formed within the range of 3.5 ~ 6.5m away from the cutting face. With the increase of time, the dust is stably controlled within the space of 4.5m away from the cutting face, and then pumped away by the exhaust fan, so as to purify the tunnel environment and ensure the tunnel’s cleanliness and safety and efficient excavation.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 51874191), the Qingchuang Science and Technology Project of Shandong Province University (2020KJD002), the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0805201), and the Taishan scholars project special funding (TS20190935).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Safety and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, Shandong Province, China

    Yun Hua, Wen Nie, Lidian Guo, Xiaojiao Cai & Lei Cheng

  2. State Key Laboratory of Mining Disaster Prevention and Control Co-founded by Shandong Province and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Yun Hua, Wen Nie, Lidian Guo, Xiaojiao Cai & Lei Cheng

Authors
  1. Yun Hua
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  2. Wen Nie
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  3. Lidian Guo
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  4. Xiaojiao Cai
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  5. Lei Cheng
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Contributions

Yun Hua: investigation, methodology, experiment, data analysis, software, writing. Wen Nie: investigation, methodology, experiment, data analysis, software, revise original draft. Lidian Guo: experiment, data curation, investigation, review and editing. Xiaojiao Cai: experiment, investigation, supervision. Lei Cheng: experiment, investigation, supervision.

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Correspondence to Wen Nie.

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Highlights

• An experiment was designed for the control effect of wind-curtain generator on respirable dust.

• Numerical simulation was used to supplement the experiment.

• Temporal–spatial evolution of respirable dust was obtained under different conditions.

• The optimal parameters for the formation of effective dust control wind-curtain were obtained.

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Hua, Y., Nie, W., Guo, L. et al. The control effect of 3D spiral wind-curtain generator on respirable dust pollution during tunnelling process. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 68212–68228 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14899-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14899-y

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