DPM dissipation experiment at MST’s experimental mine and comparison with CFD simulation

Abstract

Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) is regulated in the U.S. for both underground coal and metal/nonmetal mines. Today, many underground mines still face difficulty in compliance with DPM regulations. The DPM research carried out in Missouri University of Science and Technology (MST) is to use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to study the DPM distribution in commonly used face areas. The result is expected to be used for selection of DPM reduction strategies and better working practices, which can help the underground mines to meet regulation limits and improve the working environment for the miners. An experiment was conducted at MST’s Experimental Mine to validate CFD simulation. DPM was collected at four locations downstream of a stationary diesel engine. The experiment data were then compared with the CFD simulation results. The comparison shows that CFD simulation can forecast the location of DPM concentration with practical accuracy (less than 0.15 m). CFD can be used to further study DPM distribution in commonly used working faces and give guidance to DPM reduction.