Numerical simulation of dust distribution at a fully mechanized face under the isolation effect of an air curtain

At a fully mechanized working face of a coal mine as prototype,we investigated,by simulation,the flow field and dust distribution during the process of its isolation by a curtain of air,using the CFD software, Fluent.The results show that the air curtain installed on the shearer can effectively prevent the dust （especially the respirable dust）from diffusing into the work area of the operator,reducing the dust concentration on the side of the operator and greatly improving his working environment.The field application of the air curtain shows that the dust-isolation effect of an air curtain is quite noticeable.The isolation efficiency for respiratory dust is over 70%and,as well,it has good dust-isolation effect for nonrespiratory dust.The air curtain is a useful way to resolve the problem of dust-isolation at a fully mechanized working face.It has a practical background elsewhere with more extensive applications.

Numerical simulation of coal wall cutting and lump coal formation in a fully mechanized mining face

It is difficult to accurately calculate the lump coal rate in a fully mechanized mining face.Therefore,a numerical simulation of the coal wall cutting process,which revealed the crack expansion,development,evolution in the coal body and the corresponding lump coal formation mechanism,was performed in PFC2D.Moreover,a correlation was established between the cutting force and lump coal formation,and a statistical analysis method was proposed to determine the lump coal rate.The following conclusions are drawn from the results:(1)Based on a soft ball model,a coal wall cutting model is established.By setting the roller parameters based on linear bonding and simulating the roller cutting process of the coal body,the coal wall cutting process is effectively simulated,and accurate lump coal rate statistics are provided.(2)Under the cutting stress,the coal body in the working face underwent three stages—microfracture generation,fracture expansion,and fracture penetration—to form lump coal,in which the fracture direction is orthogonal to the cutting pressure chain.Within a certain range from the roller,as the cutting depth of the roller increased,the number of new fractures in the coal body first increases and then stabilizes.(3)Under the cutting stress,the fractured coal body is locally compressed,thereby forming a compact core.The formation and destruction of the compact core causes fluctuations in the cutting force.The fluctuation amplitude is positively related to the coal mass.(4)Because the simulation does not consider secondary damage in the coal,the simulated lump coal rate is larger than the actual lump coal rate in the working face;this deviation is mainly concentrated in large lump coal with a diameter greater than 300 mm.

Analysis and key control technologies to prevent spontaneous coal combustion occurring at a fully mechanized caving face with large obliquity in deep mines

In order to prevent spontaneous coal combustion occurring at a fully mechanized caving face with large obliquity in deep mines in China, we have analyzed the characteristics of spontaneous coal combustion and explain theoretically the factors affecting spontaneous coal combustion, such as rock bursts, high temperatures, high ventilation resistance, slow advancing speed and large obliquity mining. Key technologies to prevent spontaneous combustion occurring in sharply inclined seams in deep mines are pro- posed; these include pouring water, stopping leakage in upper and lower comers of the working face, choking off the goaf and cov- eting the coal. CO concentrations were controlled within two years to less than 15×10^-6 at the upper comer by applying these tech- nologies at the 1410 working face of the Huafeng coal mine. Our method has significant theoretical value and is of practical impor- tance in controlling spontaneous coal combustion occurring at a fully mechanized caving face with large obliquity in deep mines.

Deformation mechanism of surrounding rocks and key control technology for a roadway driven along goaf in fully mechanized top-coal caving face

The variation of the stress in the bolted surrounding rocks structure of the roadway driven along goaf in a fully mechanized top coal caving face with moderate stable conditions are studied by using numerical calculation. The essential deformation characteristics of the surrounding rocks in this kind of roadway are obtained and the key technology of bolting support used under these conditions is put forward.

Stability Control of Gob-Side Entry Retaining in Fully Mechanized Caving Face Based on a Compatible Deformation Model

The stability control of gob-side entry retaining in fully mechanized caving face is a typical challenge in many coal mines in China.The rotation and subsidence of the lateral cantilever play a critical role in a coal mine,possibly leading to instability in a coal seam wall or a gob-side wall due to its excessive rotation subsidence.Hence,the presplitting blasting measures in the roof was implemented to cut down the lower main roof and convert it to caved immediate roof strata,which can significantly reduce the rotation space for the lateral cantilever and effectively control its rotation.Firstly,the compatible deformation model was established to investigate the quantitative relationship between the deformation of the coal seam wall and the gob-side wall and the subsidence of the lateral cantilever.Then,the instability judgments for the coal seam wall and gob-side wall were revealed,and the determination method for the optimal roof cutting height were obtained.Furthermore,The Universal Distinct Element Code numerical simulation was adopted to investigate the effect of roof-cutting height on the stability of the retained entry.The numerical simulation results indicated that the deformation of the roadway could be effectively controlled when the roofcutting height reached to 18 m,which verified the theoretical deduction well.Finally,a field application was performed at the No.3307 haulage gateway in the Tangan coal mine,Ltd.,Shanxi Province,China.The field monitoring results showed that the blasting roof cutting method could effectively control the large deformation of surrounding rocks,which provided helpful references for coal mine safety production under similar conditions.

Study of mechanical principle of floor heave of roadway driving along next goaf in fully mechanized sub-level caving face

Abstract On the basis of analyzing floor strata mechanical circumstance of the roadway, the mechanical model was established. The relative displacement of roadway floor, narrow pillar floor coal mass and floor strata was calculated, the results showed that the high abutment pressure on coal mass beside the roadway was the main reason to lead to relative displacement of floor strata. And the roadway floor heave come mainly from three aspects. Firstly, the roadway floor strata is easily fractured by the stretch stress. Secondly, because the high abutment pressure is greater than the uniaxial compressive strength of floor strata, when the roadway floor strata are fractured, the coal mass floor strata at the same depth will be fractured, and broken rock will fluid into the open roadway. Thirdly, comparing with the coal mass floor, the roadway floor is relative ascending.

Effect of suppressing dust by multi-direction whirling air curtain on fully mechanized mining face

A combined method of numerical simulation and field testing was adopted in this study in the interest of solving the problem of hard to control high concentrate dusts on a fully mechanized mining face. In addi- tion, the dust suppression effect of a multi-direction whirling air curtain was studied in this paper. Under the influence of the wall attachment effect, the compressed air which blows out from the two-phase or three-phase radial outlets on the generator of the air curtain can form a multi-direction whirling air curtain, which can cover the whole roadway section of a fully mechanized mining face. The traditional method of controlling dust is a forcing system with exhaust overlap which has the major disadvantage of lacking a jet effect and consequently results in poor dust control. It is difficult to form the air flow field within the range of Lp ≤ 5√S. However, due to the effect of this novel system, the radial airflow can be turned into axial airflow allowing fresh air to flow through the length of the heading. The air flow field which is good at controlling dust diffusion can be formed 12.8 m from the heading face. Furthermore, the field measurement results show that before the application of a multi-direction whirling air curtain, the dust concentration is 348.6 mg/m^3 and 271.4 mg/m^3 respectively at the roadway cross-section measurement points which are 5 m and 10 m from the heading face. However, after the application of the multi-direction whirling air curtain, the dust concentration is only 61.2 mg/m3 and 14.8 mg/m^3, respectively. Therefore, the dust control effect of a multi-direction whirling air curtain is obvious.

Statistic constitutive equation of top-coal damage for fully mechanized coal face with sublevel caving

Under the action of abutment pressure in front of fully mechanized coal face with sublevel caving(CFSC),top-coal over CFSC deformed.In the process of whole de- formation of top-coal,it changed from continuum elastic mass to non-continuum plastic mass contained fissures,become a loose body.According to its bearing characteristics and mechanical properties,top-coal mass can be divided into four deformation zones along the winning direction of CFSC,i.e.initial stress zone,elastic zone,plastic zone and loose zone.Top-coal in plastic zone located in the post-peak zone of the stress-strain curve for top-coal.With equivalent strain principle of damage mechanics and mathemati- cal theory of statistic,combining the movement law of top-coal,set up a constitutive equa- tion with damage statistics for top-coal in different position in CFSC.The equation illus- trated the mathematical relationship among top-coal bearing capacity,horizontal confining pressure along the winning direction of CFSC and mechanical properties of top-coal mate- rial.The conclusions not only provide a basis for numerical computer simulations on damage deformation and failure mechanism for top-coal,but also further promote the ap- plication of damage mechanics in CFSC.

Similar material simulation research on movement law of roof over-lying strata in stope of fully mechanized caving face with large mining height

Similar material simulation test W9-15 101 fully mechanized caving face with was carried out in a geological model of large mining height in the Liuhuanggou Colliery, in Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region. The roof overlying strata movement law in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height was studied and show that the roof overlying strata in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height can be formed into a stable arch structure; the fracture rock beam is formed resembling a ＂bond beam＂, but it has essentially the structure of ＂multi-span beams＂ under the big structure of the stable arch. The roof overlying strata movement law in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height is similar to that of the common, fully mechanized caving stope, which is determined by the deformation and instability of the structure of ＂multi-span beams＂. But because of the differences between the mining heights, the peak pressure in the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height is smaller while the affected area of abutment pressure is wider in the front of the working face; this is the obvious difference in abutment pressure between the stope of a fully mechanized caving face with large mining height and that of the common.

Distribution laws of abutment pressure around fully mechanized top-coal caving face by in-situ measurement

In order to obtain the distribution rules of abutment pressure around the 1151 （3） fully mechanized top-coal caving （FMTC） face of Xieqiao Colliery, the KSE-II-1 type bore-hole stress gauges were installed in the tailentry and headentry to measure the mining-induced stress. The distribution rules of the front and side abutment pressure were demonstrated. The results show that distribution rules of stress are obviously different in the vicinity of the face and entries. The peak value of abutment pressure in the protective coal pillar and face are located commonly in front of the working face along the strike, and they are located at the stress-decreased zone near the face. There is no stress peak value in the lateral coal mass beside the headentry in front of the face on the strike, and the peak value of abutment pressure appears at the rear area of the face. There are stress peak values both in the protective coal pillar and in the lateral coal mass beside the headentry to the dip.

Technological optimization of fully mechanized caving mining face with large mining heights

Fully mechanized cave mining with large mining height is a new mining method, due to its large mining thickness and lower roadway excavation, the technology has been widely used in China＇s thick seam mining. In order to improve the top-coal recovery ratio of fully mechanized cave mining with large mining height, a study was conducted on optimizing the caving process, based on the mechanized caving face 1302N in Longgu Coal Mine. This was achieved by improving the PFC numerical calculation methods, and establishing a more accurate model system. On this basis, the recovery ratio of the top coal in different drawing intervals and technologies was investigated in order to achieve a reasonable caving process. The top-coal tracking system was used for practical surveying of the recovery ratio of top coal.

Study on Filling Cross-Roadway in Fully-Mechanized Coal Faces with High Water-Content Material

A new method using high water content material to mechanically fill cross roadways to form artificial bottom for coal faces was introduced. The reasonable determination of filling range, the optimization of the compounding ratio of high water content material, and the filling technique were discussed in detail. This new method has been spread after industrial testing in Baodian Colliery. Compared with the traditional method, the manual wooden chock method, the new one decreases about 40% of the filling range and cost in dealing every one set of cross roadway in the testing condition.

Numerical simulation on the delivery law of gob gas of fully mechanized caving face

According to the cover rock caving features,the gob of fully mechanized caving face was divided into 3 zones: natural collected zone,pressure effecting zone and press stable zone.Based on these and the gob gas flow control equation,and considered the in- fluence to the mining fissured zone of gas drainage,also made use of CFD software,we found an not uniform 3D numerical model of gob gas seepage and got the gas emission law in gob of fully mechanized caving face (with or without discharge measures),and this can guide the engineering practice in some aspects.

Back-and-forth mining for hard and thick coal seams—research about the mining technology for fully mechanized caving working face of Datong Mine

The article introduced the key technology, mining process, and back-and-forth mining method for the caving working face of hard-thick coal seams in Datong mine, and researched this innovations process, optimized the systemic design and working face out-play, tried to perfect the caving mining technology of hard-thick coal seams further.

Reliability analysis of the velocity matching of coal cutting and caving in fully mechanized top-coal caving face

The matching relationship between coal cutting and caving in fully mechanized top-coal caving face is analyzed in detail from the angle of reliability. The coupling equation of reliability is established correspondingly, and the mathematical equation of the coefficient of velocity matching of coal cutting and caving is obtained, which meets a certain reliability demand for making the working procedure of coal caving not influence coal cutting of coal-cutter. The results show that the relationship between the coefficient of the velocity matching and the reliability of coal cutting and caving system is linear on the whole when R <0.9. It is pointed out that different numerical value should be selected for different coal face according to different demand for reliability.

STUDY ON PRODUCTION SYSTEM OPERATION REGULARITY OF FULLY MECHANIZED SUBLEVEL CAVING MINING AND SEQUENTIAL OPERATION

According to a lot of practical data in Liujialiang Mine and reliability theory and result of computer simulation, operation regularity of fully mechanized sublevel caving mining production system in the condition of gently inclined complicated geological structure and production shortcomings are found out and reliability of system and output of the working face are predicted finally.

Investigation on the stress field characteristic of top coal at FMTC faces under the influence of caving thickness

In the background of the technology condition and the geological condition of the 1151（3） fully mechanized top-coal caving face （FMTC face）, and by means of taking nonlinear 3D numerical simulation, the stress redistribution rules of top coal with different thick coal seam were obtained by investigation on the numerical simulation of the redistributions of the stress with different coal seam＇s thickness. The research showes that there exists a certain difference on the stress distributions of the top coal at face, the maximum principal stress is located near to the tailentry＇s corner. The vertical stress＇s peak of the top coal decreases and the distance ahead of face position increases as the once mining thickness of the coal seam increases. At the same coal seam, the vertical stresses＇ peak of top coal gradually decreases from the top to the bottom, the peak＇s position is basically the same and its changes are gradually obvious with the thickness of coal seam increas- ing. The vertical stress of top coal places in a low stress state at a certain range ahead of face and over the face, which reveals the essence that the support loads are generally low under the condition of FMTC. The study supplies the theoretical foundation for the support design and selection, the theory of top coal＇s fragmentation, the movement rules of top coal and improving the recovery of top coal.

Ground pressure and overlying strata structure for a repeated mining face of residual coal after room and pillar mining

To investigate the abnormal ground pressures and roof control problem in fully mechanized repeated mining of residual coal after room and pillar mining, the roof fracture structural model and mechanical model were developed using numerical simulation and theoretical analysis. The roof fracture characteristics of a repeated mining face were revealed and the ground pressure law and roof supporting condi- tions of the repeated mining face were obtained. The results indicate that when the repeated mining face passes the residual pillars, the sudden instability causes fracturing in the main roof above the old goal and forms an extra-large rock block above the mining face. A relatively stable ＂Voussoir beam＂ structure is formed after the advance fracturing of the main roof. When the repeated mining face passes the old goaf, as the large rock block revolves and touches gangue, the rock block will break secondarily under overburden rock loads. An example calculation was performed involving an integrated mine in Shanxi province, results showed that minimum working resistance values of support determined to be reason- able were respectively 11,412 kN and 10,743 kN when repeated mining face passed through residual pillar and goaf. On-site ground pressure monitoring results indicated that the mechanical model and support resistance calculation were reasonable.

The Fuzzy Control Forecast of Fully-Mechanized Coal Face Production Capacity

In this paper, the fully\|mechanized coal face system is thought of as a fuzzy controller, the various factors that have effect on the controller are found and analysis has been made as to how they effect the fully\|mechanized coal face′s production capacity. Based on the above analysis, this paper establishs a series of data analysis models describing the quantitative characteristics of the fully\|mechanized coal face production system. With this series of data models, 90 fully\|mechanized coal faces are processed and the fuzzy control forecasting model of the fully\|mechanized coal faces production capacity is established. This model is accurate and reliable and has achieved good results in practical applicaton.

Monitoring strata behavior due to multi-slicing top coal caving longwall mining in steeply dipping extra thick coal seam

For studying the strata behavior due to multi-slicing top coal caving longwall mining along-the-strike direction in steeply dipping extra thick coal seams,the shield support pressures of the upper and lower slices of panel 37220 in Dongxia Coal Mine were monitored using the KJ513 dynamic monitoring system.The set up rooms adopted the "horizontal line-arc segment-inclined line" form and used different types of shield supports.The results show that the strata pressure of upper slice panel 37220-1 changed slightly along the strike direction,while along the dip direction it exhibited strong to weak pressure from bottom to top.The first weighting interval of lower slice panel 37220-2 was about 60.8 m,and the average periodic weighting interval were about 22.6 m.The strata behavior of panel 37220-2 exhibited a spatiotemporal characteristic in that periodic weighting occurred first in the middle-upper part,followed by the middle and upper parts,arc segment,and finally the lower part.During the periodic weighting,the weighting interval and intensity also exhibited strong space characteristics.The average dynamic load coefficient was 1.48 and the maximum lateral load of the side shield was 20-25 MPa.