Modeling atmosphere composition and determining explosibility in a sealed coal mine volume

Abstract

Explosions originated from or around the sealed areas in underground coal mines present a serious safety threat. The explosibility of the mine atmosphere depends on the composition of oxygen, combustible and inert gases. In additional, the composition in the inaccessible sealed areas change with time under various factors, such as gases emissions, air leakage, inert gases injected, etc. In order to improve mine safety, in this paper, a mathematical model based on the control volume approach to simulate the atmosphere compositions is developed, and the expanded Coward explosibility triangle diagram is used to assess the mine gas explosion risk. A computer program is developed to carry out the required computations and to display the results. In addition, the USBM explosibility diagram is also included in the program to serve as a double check.