Spatiotemporal evolution of coal spontaneous combustion in longwall gobs: A case study from mining discontinuation to resumption

• Published in: Energy science & engineering 2021-05, Vol.9 (5), p.710-723
• Main Authors: Qin, Yueping, Song, Yipeng, Liu, Wei, Duo, Wenhe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air flow; Air intakes; Boundary conditions; Coal; Coal mines; Coal mining; Combustion; Fluid dynamics; Geological faults; Hazardous areas; Heat; Interpolation; Mathematical models; Mining; numerical simulation; Pressure distribution; resuming mining; Simulation; Software; Spontaneous combustion; Temperature distribution
• ISSN: 2050-0505; 2050-0505
• DOI: 10.1002/ese3.854

Coal mining is frequently halted for long periods of time due to geological faults, and the process of resuming mining is often fraught with danger. To address this issue, in this study, the previously developed COMBUSS‐3D software was optimized to simulate the process between mining discontinuation and resumption, based on the multi‐field coupling theory. The optimized software takes the temperature distribution in gobs when coal mining ends as the initial condition, and it considers the condition of spontaneous coal combustion after remining. The actual advance distance of the working face is introduced into the program compilation and solved by linear interpolation. These improvements ensure that the calculation results are more realistic. The results demonstrate that the high‐temperature zone is distributed on the air intake side of the gob, and its final location largely depends on the remining advance rate. The hazardous area of spontaneous ignition gradually moves to a deep suffocation zone of the gob when the mining of the coal wall resumes, the residual coal is no longer oxidized, and CO formation is gradually decreased, which is verified by the theoretical expectations and on‐site observations. The spontaneous combustion period can be effectively prolonged by reducing the thickness of crushed coal during the mining stage or by increasing the longwall advance rate after resuming mining. This study can provide significant guidance and suggestion on locating the hazardous area in gobs and suppressing the spontaneous coal ignition. This study aims to provide enhanced software for simulating the process and effects of mining discontinuation and resumption upon gobs, and to thereby provide better insight into mining safety and efficiency improvements. The topic of the research is relevant in today's scenario and the study findings could have an impact in the real world since coal spontaneous combustion is a major issue in mines.