Propagation characteristics of pulverized coal and gas two-phase flow during an outburst.

• Main Authors: Aitao Zhou, Kai Wang, Lingpeng Fan, Bo Tao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5519042?pdf=render

Coal and gas outbursts are dynamic failures that can involve the ejection of thousands tons of pulverized coal, as well as considerable volumes of gas, into a limited working space within a short period. The two-phase flow of gas and pulverized coal that occurs during an outburst can lead to fatalities and destroy underground equipment. This article examines the interaction mechanism between pulverized coal and gas flow. Based on the role of gas expansion energy in the development stage of outbursts, a numerical simulation method is proposed for investigating the propagation characteristics of the two-phase flow. This simulation method was verified by a shock tube experiment involving pulverized coal and gas flow. The experimental and simulated results both demonstrate that the instantaneous ejection of pulverized coal and gas flow can form outburst shock waves. These are attenuated along the propagation direction, and the volume fraction of pulverized coal in the two-phase flow has significant influence on attenuation of the outburst shock wave. As a whole, pulverized coal flow has a negative impact on gas flow, which makes a great loss of large amounts of initial energy, blocking the propagation of gas flow. According to comparison of numerical results for different roadway types, the attenuation effect of T-type roadways is best. In the propagation of shock wave, reflection and diffraction of shock wave interact through the complex roadway types.