Abstract

Diesel particulate matter (DPM) is a by-product from operating diesel engines. Since diesel powers are one of the major sources of energy for mobile underground mining equipment, the adverse health effects of DPM are of a great concern. This paper used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method to study the effect of entry inclination on DPM plume distribution in a dead-end entry. An upward mining face and a downward mining face were built with a truck and a loader in loading operation close to the face area. A species transport model with incorporated buoyancy effect was used to examine the DPM dispersion pattern for the above steady-state scenarios. High DPM and temperature regions were identified for the two different faces. The model was used to assess the role of auxiliary ventilation in reducing DPM exposures of underground miners working in those entries. In this study, it is suggested to provide local ventilation at least three times of the diesel exhaust rate to be able to lower the average DPM level for the mining upward face. The requirement for local ventilation is much less for the mining downward face. This can provide guidelines for good working practices and selection of diesel emission reduction technologies underground.

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Publication Status

Open Access

Keywords and Phrases

Computational fluid dynamics; Diesel particulate matter; Entry inclination; Ventilation

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

2095-2686

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Publication Date

01 May 2017

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