Unsteady simulation for optimal arrangement of dedusting airduct in coal mine heading face

To optimize dedusting efficiency in coal mines, a model of dust movement in heading roadway with far-pressing-near-absorption ventilation system was built. The empirical drag force model was applied into the unsteady inter phase coupling modeling of air and dust flow. The Discrete Phase Modeling in Fluent was employed to solve the problem and unstructured grids were utilized to mesh the complex 3-D roadway with different airduct allocations. Results show that the dedusting efficiency with the dedusting fan in the air return side is obviously better than that with the fan in the middle of the heading machine. The dedusting efficiency decreases within creasing distance between air inlet and heading section. When this distance is 2.0mwith airduct in the air return side, it has the best dedusting efficiency; in which the dust concentration in the front of roadway after 60 seconds of digging and cutting decreases from 1150mg/m3 to 365mg/m3; the average dust concentration in roadway decreases from 597mg/m3 to 144mg/m3; and the total dedusting efficiency reaches up to 75.88%.Peer reviewe