CO Dispersion from a Coal Fire in a Mine Entry

摘要

Five mine fire experiments were conducted in a 2.08-m-high, 2.90-m-wide ventilated mine entry in NIOSH's Safety Research Coal Mine to determine the effect of the dispersion of carbon monoxide (CO) on mine fire detection. The criterion that the mine fire alarms occur within 15 min of the onset of flaming combustion could not be consistently met with the 10-ppm CO alarm. This suggests the use of lower CO alarm values or reduced CO sensor spacings for mine fire protection. It is demonstrated how computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used to model the CO dispersion downwind from the fire in support of a plan to optimize sensor spacings.