Numerical Simulation of Energy Saving Potential in Dispersing Process of Blasted Smoke in Mines

The dispersing process of the blasted smoke in underground mines by ventilation is very important for the safety of personnel, and its energy consumption is also worthy of concern. In this study, the impact of supply air flow rate on the decay process of harmful gases and fan energy, and the role of harmful gases buried by blasted pile in the smoke dispersing process is analyzed with three?dimensional numerical simulation. According to the results, air flow facilitates quick smoke dispersion and the gas emits from the blasted pile is only significant at the beginning of ventilation. It is thus recommended that large amount of air supply is taken to disperse the smoke quickly until the concentration of harmful gases reaches relevant standards, and reduce the amount of air in the remain time with frequency conversion technology to save energy. In the given study, 12 m/s air flow rate is taken for dispersing smoke and 3 m/s air flow rate is taken for the waiting time. The energy consumption for ventilation is reduced by about 50%. In addition, due to the gases in the blasted pile remains very high concentration after the dispersing process, it is recommended to keep suitable amount of ventilation in the consequent process.