Experimental and Modeling Investigation of the Effect of Ventilation on Smoke Rollback in a Mine Entry

Details

• Personal Author:
  Edwards JC ; Franks, Robert A. ; Friel, Gene F. ; Yuan L
• Description:
  To determine the critical air velocity for preventing smoke rollback, diesel-fuel fire experiments were conducted in the NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory's Safety Research Coal Mine. Such information is necessary for preplanning and implementing ventilation changes during mine firefighting and rescue operations. The fire intensity varied from 50 to 300 kW depending on the fuel tray area. Airflow in the 6.6-ft-high, 9.5-ft-wide coal mine entry was regulated during the course of each experiment. The airflow was measured upwind from the fire as an average over the entry cross-section with an ultrasonic airflow sensor and was recorded dynamically with a mine monitoring system. The extent of smoke reversal was monitored with light-obscuration monitors, ionization smoke sensors, and visual observations. Experimental results for the critical air velocity for smoke reversal as a function of fire intensity compared very well with model predictions based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) fire dynamics simulator. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Movements Coal Coal Mining Firefighters Fires Hot Temperature Mining Occupational Health Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Air-flow Coal-mining Combustible-gases Disaster-prevention Fire-fighting Fire-hazards Fire-prevention Gases Hazards Heat Injuries Mine-fires Mine-rescue Miners Models Safety-research Smoke Underground-mining

  More +
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  0026-5187
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRL - Pittsburgh Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  53-58
• Volume:
  58
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20030021
• Citation:
  Min Eng 2006 Apr; 58(4):53-58
• Contact Point Address:
  NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 18070, Pittsburgh, PA 15236
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Mining Engineering
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:07ed5083609a9ea35acfb0384b743bbb4ad4459329529e6ef1a110d502c4f66961fb5249673520567dff0c2b03c20947a1dfc459608f6fc6446e3828126f01c5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221171/cdc_221171_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.41 MB ]