Computer Aided Coal Mine Ventilation Planning

Abstract

A vital component in the design of a new underground mine is the quantified planning of the distribution of airflows, together with the locations and duties of fans and other ventilation controls required to achieve acceptable environmental conditions throughout the system. Similarly, throughout the life of an underground operation, it is necessary to plan ahead in order that new fans, shafts or other airways are available in a timely manner for the efficient ventilation of extensions to the workings. As any operating mine is a dynamic system with new workings continually being developed and older ones coming to the end of their productive life, ventilation planning should be a continuous and routine process.

Ventilation network analysis is concerned with the interactive behaviour of airflows within the connected branches of a complete and integrated network. The questions addressed by ventilation network analysis may be formulated quite simply. If we know the resistances of the branches of a ventilation network and the manner in which those branches are interconnected then we can predict, quantitatively, the distribution of airflow for given locations and duties of fans.

Various softwares are used to simulate underground mining environments for planning and verification of the environmental performance parameters of operational and future mines.

This paper describes the step by step procedure involved in planning the ventilation system of an underground coal mine as well as the usage of software packages in design of the same.