Detection and Control of Spontaneous Heating in Coal Mine Pillars: A Case Study

摘要

The U.S. Bureau of Mines study examined spontaneous heating episodes in coal minepillars in an active underground coal mine. The information obtained from these incidents was then analyzed to learn which sampling methods provided the earliest indications of pillar heating. The objective of the study was to discover if the location of future pillar spontaneous heating events could be inferred from the available information. The study found that by drilling small-diameter boreholes into the pillars, then obtaining gas samples from the affected pillars, the ability to locate early spontaneous heating episodes was improved. However, the ability to accurately predict future spontaneous heating events remains in question.