Dust generation and its dispersion in a longwall mine pose significant health and safety issues. The concern is prominent at both the working face, where coal excavation exposes workers to high dust concentrations, and also in the return, where float dust accumulates. To address this issue, researchers at the University of Kentucky designed and fabricated a flooded-bed dust scrubber integrated into a full-scale physical model of a longwall shearer. This mock-up was installed in the longwall test gallery at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL) of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). A full-factorial experiment was designed to measure the effectiveness of the scrubber on dust capture. Test results indicated dust reduction of up to 57% in the return airways. This paper presents the development of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and its validation by comparing the simulation results against the experimental results. The CFD simulations show good agreement with experimental results with differences between + 6.9 and − 9.7%. The validated CFD model was used further to predict the scrubber performance under additional operating conditions, resulting in a dust reduction of up to 66.5%. With this level of success, the scrubber concept can be a game changer for the mining industry, and it can be utilized to improve health and safety in longwall mines.

中文翻译：

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集成在长壁采煤机中的淹没床除尘器的数值模拟

长壁矿中的粉尘产生及其扩散会造成严重的健康和安全问题。在工作面（煤炭挖掘使工人暴露于高粉尘浓度的工作面）和回程中浮尘积聚的地方，问题都很突出。为了解决这个问题，肯塔基大学的研究人员设计并制造了一个淹没床除尘器，集成到长壁采煤机的全尺寸物理模型中。该模型安装在美国国家职业安全与健康研究所 (NIOSH) 匹兹堡研究实验室 (PRL) 的长壁试验廊中。设计了一个全因子实验来测量洗涤器对灰尘捕获的有效性。测试结果表明，回风道中的粉尘减少高达 57%。本文介绍了计算流体动力学 (CFD) 模型的开发及其通过将模拟结果与实验结果进行比较的验证。CFD 模拟与实验结果非常吻合，差异在 + 6.9 和 - 9.7% 之间。进一步使用经过验证的 CFD 模型来预测额外操作条件下的洗涤器性能，从而减少高达 66.5% 的粉尘。凭借这种成功水平，洗涤器概念可以改变采矿业的游戏规则，并且可以用来改善长壁矿山的健康和安全。进一步使用经过验证的 CFD 模型来预测额外操作条件下的洗涤器性能，从而减少高达 66.5% 的粉尘。凭借这种成功水平，洗涤器概念可以改变采矿业的游戏规则，并且可以用来改善长壁矿山的健康和安全。进一步使用经过验证的 CFD 模型来预测额外操作条件下的洗涤器性能，从而减少高达 66.5% 的粉尘。凭借这种成功水平，洗涤器概念可以改变采矿业的游戏规则，并且可以用来改善长壁矿山的健康和安全。