Recent stream of development and utilization of coal energy

[3601-06-06] Methane gas dispersion at heading face

○Ahmad Yaser Saljuqi¹, Masahiro Inoue¹, Shohei Kanazawa¹ (1. Kyushu University)

Chairman: Yuichi Sugai(Kyusyu University)

Keywords:Safety, Simulation, Gas behavior

When coal is mined underground, methane gas released becomes a problem as, when combined with air, it forms a highly explosive mixture. During the extraction of coal, gas released as a result of mining activities is therefore of vital importance to the safety of miners. Numerous methane-related incidents and accidents with fatalities have attracted significant attention all over the world, highlighting the importance of an effective mine ventilation to ensure a safe and productive environment in an underground mine whilst keeping energy usage and operating cost at a minimum.
The method of experiment is a model experiment by using a small-scale roadway model. The model sizes are, length 75cm, height 15cm, width 15cm, and there are 7 heat conduction type sensors mounted on it, the head part of this roadway equipped with a mesh plate that acts as a coal layer. For the safety reason we used Helium, gas flow rate is 1.7 L/min and time for the experiment is 3 s. Many experiments such as horizontal roadway, inclined 5deg upward and downward, inclined 1deg upward and downward of Helium gas have been done. And also the same situation simulated by using FDS(Fire dynamics simulator) program and consequently check the gas behavior at the heading face and compare both the result of experiment and simulation. Comparing the result of experiments and simulation shows that the horizontal and 5deg downward result match the simulation but the 1deg downward doesn't match the simulation result.