Roof bolter canopy air curtain effects on airflow and dust dispersion in an entry using blowing curtain ventilation - a computational fluid dynamics evaluation.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Reed, William R. ; Rider, James P. ; Shahan MR ; Zhang P ; Zheng Y
• Description:
  Roof bolter operators may be exposed to high respirable dust concentrations on continuous miner sections with blowing face ventilation when bolting is performed downwind of the continuous miner. One solution to reduce the high respirable dust concentrations is to use a canopy air curtain (CAC) to deliver clean air from a filtered blower fan directly to the bolter operators under the canopies. The influence of CAC installation in the airflow and dust dispersion around the location of the roof bolter operator can be evaluated by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This study, performed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), considers two scenarios: (1) a roof bolting machine in the center of the entry for installation of the fifth row of bolts from the face, and (2) a roof bolting machine positioned close to the face for the installation of the last row of bolts. In both scenarios, the bolting machine is placed in an environment which contains 6.0 mg/m3 of respirable dust and is ventilated by a blowing curtain with 3,000 cfm (1.42 m3/s) of air. This environment is used to simulate the roof bolter machine operating downstream of a continuous mining machine. Two operation positions are simulated at the same bolting location: dual drill heads in the inward position for two inside bolts; and dual drill heads in the outward position for two outside bolts. The influence of the CAC on airflows and dust dispersion is evaluated with the CAC operating at 250 cfm (0.12 m3/s). [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Dust Environmental Exposure Mining Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Underground mining; Underground mines; Exposure levels; Risk factors; Ground falls; Injuries; Mine safety; Respirable dust; Miners; Roof bolters; Ventilation; Filters; Airflow; Dust exposure; Dusts; Machinery; Environmental exposure; Mining equipment
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISBN:
  9781510884663
• Publisher:
  Curran Associates, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PMRD - Pittsburgh Mining Research Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  122-128
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058953
• Citation:
  2019 SME Annual Conference & Expo and CMA 121st National Western Mining Conference: Smart Mining: Resources for a Connected World, February 24-27, 2019, Denver, Colorado. Red Hook, NY: Curran Associates, Inc., 2019 Aug; :122-128
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  2019 SME Annual Conference & Expo and CMA 121st National Western Mining Conference: Smart Mining: Resources for a Connected World, February 24-27, 2019, Denver, Colorado
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/247082/cdc_247082_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]