Detection and location of places of spontaneous combustion of coal in mines due to gas anomalies on the earth’s surface

• Published in: E3S web of conferences 2020-01, Vol.174, p.1061
• Main Authors: Portola, Vyacheslav, Bobrovnikova, Alyona, Shirokolobov, Georgii, Paleev, Dmitiy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2267-1242; 2267-1242
• DOI: 10.1051/e3sconf/202017401061

The effectiveness of localization and extinguishing of places of underground fires that occur in mine worked out spaces depends on information about the location of a place of spontaneous combustion. Existing methods to detect the processes of coal spontaneous combustion in mines include monitoring the content of gases in mine atmosphere, released during the spontaneous combustion of coal. However, this control method does not allow determining the location of a place of combustion, since the paths of gas movement in the worked out space are unknown. The surface gas survey allows to determine the location of the underground fire. The calculations showed that gases, generated in the fire seat, spread to the earth’s surface due to molecular diffusion, the thermal depression developed by the fire seat and the drops of air pressure created by the ventilation fans. The dependences of the distribution of fire gases content in rocks on the rate of drops of air pressure between the worked out space in a mine with a fire seat and the atmosphere on the surface of the earth are obtained. Mine researches have confirmed the formation of anomalies of fire gases in rocks and soil over places of spontaneous combustion of coal occurred in worked out space. When conducting a gas survey, it is sufficient to measure the content of fire gases in the soil at a depth of 0.5-1.0 m.