Aerological risk management in designing, operation, closure and temporary shutdown of coal mines

Abstract

The currentness of the development of a scientifically founded calculation and methodological framework for the assessment and management of aerological risks is governed by the required enhancement of high-intensity coal production, distortion of project design in the course of mining, low efficiency and unsafety of mine ventilation schemes and inefficient gas emission control. The information and analysis data support developed by this article authors enables decision-making on aerological risk management based on the air-and-gas control statistics on frequency and intensity of failures in determination of mine air parameters, mine air dust content, dust deposition in mine airways and predictive assessment of gas emission risk in development headings and stopes. The article presents the results of the aerological risk assessment by dust and gas criteria for different ventilation schemes. The results reveal unsafe ventilation schemes which can lead to accidents in extraction panels in specific geological conditions. In case of using unsafe ventilation schemes, it is required to introduce limitation in coal production output and to initiate gas emission control. The authors also describe the results on the aerological risk assessment in mining rockburst-hazardous and ignitable coal beds, as well as on the effect exerted by gas emission control on the predicted value of aerological risk. The research findings allow the aerological risk prediction in designing, operation, closure and temporary shutdown of coal mines, as well as in justification of aerological safety.