Investigation of DPM dispersion in unventilated dead-ends using transient flow modelling

Authors

Ramakrishna Morla, University of WollongongFollow
Shivakumar Karekal, University of WollongongFollow
Ajit R. Godbole, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

145420

Publication Details

Morla, R., Karekal, S. & Godbole, A. R. (2020). Investigation of DPM dispersion in unventilated dead-ends using transient flow modelling. International Journal of Mining and Mineral Engineering, 11 (2),

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed study of DPM dispersion in unventilated dead-end cross-cuts in an underground mine. The dispersion and dilution of DPM was measured in dead-end with time when the air is flowing in the main gallery. Parametric studies were conducted by varying the dead-end cross-cut lengths (10 m, 15 m, 20 m and 25 m), varying cross-cut angles (450, 900 and 1,350) with the main gallery and varying the velocities (0.5 m/s, 1 m/s, 2 m/s, 3 m/s, 4 m/s) in the main gallery across the cross-cuts. The results obtained show that longer time durations are required to dilute DPM for greater dead-end cross-cut lengths and angles. For 50 m dead-end cross-cut, it took five hours to reduce DPM concentration from 820 μg/m3 to 100 μg/m3. Studies also show that higher air velocity in adjacent main gallery results in shorter dilution time durations in dead-end cross-cuts. When the air velocity is below 0.5 m/s in the main gallery, no influence of DPM dilution was observed in the unventilated cross-cut for a long time.