Panel caving is an underground bulk mining method that utilizes gravitational force for mining massive, steeply dipping, and deep-seated ore deposits at a lower operating cost. To control dust and gas emissions entering the production level during the extraction of ore from the draw points in a panel cave, relatively negative pressure is created in the cave by installing an exhaust fan in the exhaust drift located on top of the cave. Since caving is a dynamic process, the design of an effective ventilation system is a challenging task, and therefore, estimation of airflow resistance offered by the broken rock inside the cave is critical. The complex and dynamic nature of caving also makes it difficult to predict the airflow resistance by using traditional approaches. This study investigates the effect of changes in the bulk porosity of the broken rock on the cave airflow resistance using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. The results show an inverse relationship between the cave airflow resistance and the bulk cave porosity. The pressure-quantity characteristic curves presented in this paper provide valuable information for sizing and operating an exhaust fan used for a mature panel cave ventilation.

嵌板崩落法是一种地下散装开采方法，它利用重力以较低的运营成本开采大量、陡倾和深部矿床。为了控制从面板洞穴中的提取点提取矿石期间进入生产层的粉尘和气体排放，通过在位于洞穴顶部的排气井中安装排气扇，在洞穴中产生相对负压。由于崩落是一个动态过程，有效通风系统的设计是一项具有挑战性的任务，因此，估算洞穴内破碎岩石提供的气流阻力至关重要。崩落的复杂性和动态性也使得使用传统方法难以预测气流阻力。本研究使用计算流体动力学 (CFD) 方法研究破碎岩石的体积孔隙度变化对洞穴气流阻力的影响。结果表明，洞穴气流阻力与整体洞穴孔隙度之间存在反比关系。本文提出的压力-数量特性曲线为用于成熟的面板洞穴通风的排气扇的尺寸和操作提供了有价值的信息。