A Preliminary Experimental Investigation of the Airflow Resistance of an Evolving Cave in a Block/Panel Cave Mine

Abstract

Block caving is an underground mining method, which uses gravity to exploit the mineral deposits that are too deep for conventional open-pit mining and is generally used to extract massive low-grade deposits. Design of ventilation systems for block caving mines is a relatively challenging task. Apart from the commonly used traditional ventilation design software packages, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques are also commonly used to understand the complex behavior of air/gas flow through the system. However, this study uses a laboratory scale (1:100) model set-up to investigate the ventilation characteristics of a block/panel cave mine, and the changes in the system caused by changing cave characteristics such as porosity and permeability (flow paths). This paper presents a preliminary study of an on-going project, the challenges faced while working on the experimental model, and the methods by which these issues were dealt with; the future study of this project will address the effect of changing cave characteristics on the ventilation system.