Alternate solutions for mine ventilation network to keep a preassigned fixed quantity in a working place

In underground constructions, a good ventilation design not only delivers fresh air to establish good working environment, but also provides a scientific and reliable basis to prevent disasters. In emergency cases, unexpected closure of the main airways may occur, providing the workers with alternative airways is substantial. This is important not only to sustain personnel lives, but also to prevent the mine ventilation system from damage. In this research, alternate solutions were introduced in case of failure in the underground construction to keep a pre-assigned fixed quantity in a working place for mine ventilation network. Eight different collapse scenarios were proposed to study their effect on the air quantity distribution among the branches in the ventilation circuit. From these scenarios, it is found that providing a sufficient air quantity in the working places could be achieved through modification of the network topology and adjusting the values of the regulators pressure. It is also indicated that the distance between the collapse and working places has a great effect on the amount of air delivered to it. A reduction in the power consumption could be done by re-arrange the installed regulators and decreasing the number of nodes and branches inside the network. A relationship representing the effect of changing the network topology on the total network power consumption was deduced through regression analysis. It is found that the total network power is quadratic dependent on the number of regulators and number of branches while it is directly dependent on the regulator power.

Analysis of Mine Ventilation Network Using Genetic Algorithm

Aim To determine the global optimal solution for a mine ventilation network under given network topology and airway characteristics. Methods\ The genetic algorithm was used to find the global optimal solution of the network. Results\ A modified genetic algorithm is presented with its characteristics and principle. Instead of working on the conventional bit by bit operation, both the crossover and mutation operators are handled in real values by the proposed algorithms. To prevent the system from turning into a premature problem, the elitists from two groups of possible solutions are selected to reproduce the new populations. Conclusion\ The simulation results show that the method outperforms the conventional nonlinear programming approach whether from the viewpoint of the number of iterations required to find the optimum solutions or from the final solutions obtained.

GIS-Based Mine Ventilation Network and Safety Analysis

This paper constructed the mine ventilation network model using the powerful function of attribute management and display of GIS based on the study of GIS and mine ventilation network. In a mine ventilation network, a specified result can be obtained by defining weight values for attribute fields as the constraint condition. It is of great importance for mines to determine the best rescue and leaving route by the analyses of mine ventilation network routes, nodes and loops when a mine accident happens.

Stability of multiple fans in mine ventilation networks

In large mines,single fan is usually not enough to ventilate all the working areas.Single mine-fan approach cannot be directly applied to multiple-fan networks because the present of multiple pressures and air quantities associated with each fan in the network.Accordingly,each fan in a multiple-fan system has its own mine characteristic curve,or a subsystem curve.Under some consideration,the conventional concept of a mine characteristic curve of a single-fan system can be directly extended to that of a particular fan within a multiple-fan system.In this paper the mutual effect of the fans on each other and their effect on the stability of the ventilation network were investigated by Hardy Cross algorithm combined with a switching-parameters technique.To show the validity and reliability of this algorithm,the stability of the ventilation system of Abu-Tartur Mine(one of the largest underground mine in Egypt)has been studied.