CFD investigation on dust dispersion pollution of down/upwind coal cutting and relevant countermeasures for spraying dustfall in fully mechanized mining face

To explore the effects of downwind and upwind coal cutting on dust pollution in a fully mechanized mining face, the airflow-dust migration was simulated by using ANSYS-FLUENT software, and the follow-up spraying dust control method was optimized according to the differences in dust concentration distribution during downwind and upwind coal cutting. The results show that during downwind and upwind coal cutting, the average airflow velocity of the fully mechanized mining face is about 1.053 m/s. During downwind coal cutting, the dust generated by the shearer mainly pollutes the mining area and the area within 0-50 m on its downwind side, while the dust generated by the advancing support mainly pollutes the mining area and the sidewalk area within 0-20 m on the downwind side of shearer. During upwind coal cutting, the dust generated by the shearer mainly pollutes the vicinity of the drum and the area within 0-45 m on its downwind side, while the dust generated by the advancing support mainly pollutes the sidewalk area within 0-30 m on the downwind side of shearer. In view of the differences in dust concentration during downwind and upwind coal cutting, the dust concentration in the working face was divided into four areas and the follow-up spraying dust control method was optimized. The field measurement results indicate that compared with the original spraying facility, the optimized opening mode raises the average dust removal rates of total dust and respirable dust in the working face by 52.1% and 43.8% during downwind coal cutting and by 53.6% and 42.3% during upward coal cutting. (C) 2020 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.