Abstract
Dust exposures during mining activity can result in lung diseases such as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP) and silicosis, and it is closely related to quartz dust. In the present study, coal-quartz dust mixture were investigated considering the particle size and the specific constituents. Multiple numerical techniques, including computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD-DEM), hard sphere model, and direct Monte Carlo simulation (DSMC), were presented, and the dust diffusion processes were investigated. According to the validation of the numerical method, the suspension characteristics of the polydisperse mixed dust were analyzed in detail. The results show that PM10 responds quickly, has a large diffusion range, and is easily affected by the reflux. The particle size increases gradually from top to bottom. When the air velocity is low, the percentage of coal dust in the breathing zone tends to be 50%. The results provide theoretical guidance for the comprehensive prevention of the mixed dust in underground coal mines.
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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.
Abbreviations
- C d :
-
Drag coefficient
- d p :
-
Particle diameter (m)
- e :
-
Reversion coefficient.
- f d :
-
Drag force (N)
- f g :
-
Gravity force (N)
- f p :
-
The friction coefficient of Coulomb’s friction law
- G 0 :
-
Relative velocity between particles (m/s)
- \({{\varvec{G}}}_{ct}^{0}\) :
-
Tangential component of G0 (m/s)
- G ij :
-
Relative velocity between particle i and particle j (m/s)
- m p :
-
Mass of particle (kg)
- N :
-
Sample number of particles
- n :
-
Number density of particles
- p ij :
-
Probability of particle–particle collision
- R:
-
Random number \(0\le R\le 1\)
- Re p :
-
Particle Reynolds number
- t :
-
Time (s)
- u p :
-
Particle velocity (m/s)
- u a :
-
Velocity of the surrounding air (m/s)
- V i :
-
Translational velocity of particle after collision (m/s)
- \({{\varvec{V}}}_{i}^{0}\) :
-
Translational velocity of particle before collision (m/s)
- V j :
-
Translational velocity of particle after collision (m/s)
- \({{\varvec{V}}}_{j}^{0}\) :
-
Translational velocity of particle before collision (m/s)
- \({\overset{\rightharpoonup }{F}}_{q}\) :
-
External body force (N)
- \({\overset{\rightharpoonup }{F}}_{lift,q}\) :
-
A lift force (N)
- \({\overset{\rightharpoonup }{F}}_{Vm,q}\) :
-
A virtual mass force (N)
- \({\overset{\rightharpoonup }{v}}_{pq}\) :
-
Interphase velocity (m/s)
- \({\overset{\rightharpoonup }{R}}_{pq}\) :
-
Interaction force between phases (N)
- \({K}_{pq}\left(={K}_{qp}\right)\) :
-
Interphase momentum exchange coefficient
- F c :
-
Collision force (N)
- F d :
-
Drag force (N)
- M c :
-
Total torque
- I :
-
The moment of inertia of the particle
- r p :
-
Particle diameter
- \({\rho }_{q}\) :
-
The physical density of particle
- \({\rho }_{a}\) :
-
Air density (kg/m3)
- \({\omega }_{i}\) :
-
Rotational velocity of particle after collision (rad/s)
- \({\omega }_{i}^{0}\) :
-
Rotational velocity of particle before collision (rad/s)
- \({\omega }_{j}\) :
-
Rotational velocity of particle after collision (rad/s)
- \({\omega }_{j}^{0}\) :
-
Rotational velocity of particle before collision (rad/s)
- \({\alpha }_{q}\) :
-
The space occupied by each phase.
- \({\overline{\overline{\tau }}}_{q}\) :
-
Phase stress–strain tensor
- \({\mu }_{q}\) :
-
Shear viscosity
- \({\lambda }_{q}\) :
-
Bulk viscosity
- o :
-
Before the collision
- a :
-
Air phase
- i :
-
Particle i
- j :
-
Particle j
- p :
-
Particle phase
- q :
-
Particle phase
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Funding
This study received financial supports from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFC3003304), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42272313), and the scientific research project of China Railway Shanghai Group Co., Ltd. (2022178).
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Fan Geng and Yingchao Wang: conceptualization and methodology; Jiajun An and Fan Geng: software, formal analysis and visualization, writing — review and editing; Jiajun An and Changgeng Gui: investigation, validation, data curation and writing — original draft; Changgeng Gui, Heng Guo, Tianliang Wen: resources and writing — review and editing.
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Geng, F., An, J., Wang, Y. et al. Suspension characteristics of the coal-quartz dust mixture in the working environment during the fully mechanized mining process. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 102244–102259 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28911-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28911-0