Dust distribution and control in a coal roadway driven by an air curtain system: A numerical study

Dust pollution is one of the most serious problems in underground coal mines. To effectively control dust, it is necessary to investigate the dust distribution in the coal roadways. In this study, the dust distribution under the isolation effect of an air curtain was investigated in a coal roadway. First, the coal roadway was presented with a vault, a hybrid ventilation system, and an air curtain system installed on the digging machine. Second, the dust movement was simulated via the Euler-Lagrange method. Meanwhile, dust was treated as a discrete phase under a Lagrangian frame, and the air flow was modelled as the continuous phase. Then the spatiotemporal distribution of dust in the coal roadway was studied with and without the air curtain system. The results show that the spatiotemporal concentration of dust clearly reduces after the air curtain when compared with that of the system without the air curtain and the conventional hybrid ventilation system (FSNE), particularly for the working area. The isolation action of the air curtain is obvious for total dust. It is also found that the air curtain system can obviously reduce the dust concentration on the side of the operator, and provide a cleaner environment for the miners. Moreover, selected results show agreement with the relevant experimental and simulation ones. The air curtain is useful for resolving the problem of dust-isolation in the coal roadway, and can be used to improve the working environment in underground coal mines. It also has a practical background with several extensive applications. (C) 2018 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.