Empress Catherine II Saint-Petersburg Mining University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

A. S. Seregin, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, Associate Professor
I. R. Fazylov, Assistant, Candidate of Engineering Sciences
P. A. Belekhov, Post-Graduate Student, belekhovpavel@mail.ru

Gipronickel Institute, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

K. D. Akhtyamov, Head of Underground Mining Department

Safe and reliable operation of industrial facilities in the mining sector is one of the key factors of the sustainable economic and industrial advance of a country. The increased annual production of mineral resources from year to year involves elevating risks, which dictates heightened attention to be paid to occupational health and safety issues. Modern methods of monitoring, diagnostics and prediction of hazardous situation in underground mines using mathematical and computerized modeling can simplify and speed-up greatly the process of finding solutions to the mentioned problems. Long-acting components of exhaust gases of diesel equipment in blind drifts in underground mines cause different respiratory diseases such as obstructive respiratory disease, bronchitis and asthma, as well as aggravate cardiovascular diseases. The main harmful components of exhaust gases from vehicles with internal combustion engines are nitrogen oxides NO_x and carbon monoxide CO. Using the field observation data, a computer-aided mathematical model of a blind drift was built in Ansys CFX software program. This program is a tool of optimized development and process design in the sphere of computational fluid dynamics. Some variant calculations were carried out for the efficiency of dilution of harmful gases in work zones at different distances between air ducts and face surfaces (8, 10, 12 and 15 m). The concentrations were measured at different distances from the exhaust pipes of diesel machinery. The modeling results made it possible to determine the length of a zone behind a harmful gas exhaust source in a mine opening, with the harmful gas concentration higher than the guideline values, and to find the most efficient design of a ventilation system for a blind drift.

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