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U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

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Gas Emission Control On Longwall Panels At The Vorkuta Coal Mines, V. N. Bobrovnikov, O. I. Kazanin, A. P. Veselov Jun 1999

Gas Emission Control On Longwall Panels At The Vorkuta Coal Mines, V. N. Bobrovnikov, O. I. Kazanin, A. P. Veselov

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

The characteristics of geological conditions and mining technology at the coal mines of Coal Stock Company Vorkutaugol are given in the article. Information about longwall panel ventilation schemes and problems caused by high methane emission is also presented. The results of experiments at longwall panels using the methane emission control ventilation complex are described as well as ways of isolating gob methane removal. Other topics include the methane emission control ventilation complex consisted of drainage entry, an isolating wall with windows, mixing chambers and regulating stoppings. As results of experiments have shown, the most effective gas emission control methods were: …

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An Investigation Of Longwall Gob Gas Behavior And Control Methods, Steven J. Schatzel, William P. Diamond, Fred Garcia, John C. Lascola, Frank E. Mccall, Paul W. Jeran, Thomas P. Mucho Jun 1999

An Investigation Of Longwall Gob Gas Behavior And Control Methods, Steven J. Schatzel, William P. Diamond, Fred Garcia, John C. Lascola, Frank E. Mccall, Paul W. Jeran, Thomas P. Mucho

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has initiated the use of a tracer gas in field studies to characterize geologic and mining factors influencing the migration of longwall gob gas. Three studies have been conducted using sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) at a coal mine in the Northern Appalachian Basin operating in the Pittsburgh Coalbed. Eight underground tracer gas releases and one gob gas venthole release are summarized. The results indicate that the gas flow in the bleeder network and in the interior regions of longwall panel gobs do not strongly interact and that the negative pressure …

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Lowering Respirable Dust Exposures At Mineral Processing Facilities, Andrew B. Cecala, Robert J. Timko, Edward D. Thimons Jun 1999

Lowering Respirable Dust Exposures At Mineral Processing Facilities, Andrew B. Cecala, Robert J. Timko, Edward D. Thimons

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

This article discusses three research projects performed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, (formerly the Bureau of Mines), that reduce the respirable dust exposure of plant workers at mineral processing facilities. All three of these projects are very different but they all have the same goal of reducing worker exposure to respirable dust at mineral processing facilities. The first project deals with a total mill ventilation system that reduces dust levels throughout an entire building and lowers the dust exposure of everyone working in the structure. The second project describes a bag and belt cleaner device that …

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An Integrated Approach To Control Diesel Particulate Matter In Underground Coal Mines, Pramod C. Thakur, Larry D. Patts Jun 1999

An Integrated Approach To Control Diesel Particulate Matter In Underground Coal Mines, Pramod C. Thakur, Larry D. Patts

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Diesel engines were introduced in European, Asian, and Australian coal mines nearly fifty years ago and more recently in U.S. coal mines. Their use minimizes the risks of mine fires and gas explosions associated with trolley wire haulage. While there is no epidemiological evidence that properly diluted diesel exhaust creates any health hazard, some concern persists about the long-term effects of inhaling diesel particulate matter. Existing control technology has been able to dilute all gaseous components of diesel exhaust to safe levels. Because there is no medically established threshold limit value for diesel particulate matter in U.S. coal mines, it …

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Evaluation Of Discriminating Fire Sensors In Two Underground Coal Mines, William J. Francart Jun 1999

Evaluation Of Discriminating Fire Sensors In Two Underground Coal Mines, William J. Francart

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Fire detection in underground coal mines using carbon monoxide (CO) based monitoring systems has been very effective in many mines. Many systems have been able to detect fires in early stages of development at very low CO levels. However in mines which use extensive diesel haulage and support vehicles, the systems have been less sensitive to early detection due to diesel exhaust contaminants elevating baseline CO levels. A new technology has been tested in two underground coal mines which is designed to discriminate between the CO produced by diesel engines and CO from a fire by correcting the CO concentration …

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The Practice Of Ventilation Planning Half A Century Ago, Rudolf E. Greuer Jun 1999

The Practice Of Ventilation Planning Half A Century Ago, Rudolf E. Greuer

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

This is the description of ventilation planning conducted by the author in 1952 as his thesis for the German degree of Dipl.-Ing. Since the problems have not changed, most of the work done is not much different from what one would do today. Even the tools have remained the same, except for the computers, which were not around yet. To compensate for this, certain planning techniques were developed which are now in danger of being forgotten.

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Cfd Applications In Tunnel Ventilation Analysis, Richard E. Ray Jr., Abdelgbani Zigh Jun 1999

Cfd Applications In Tunnel Ventilation Analysis, Richard E. Ray Jr., Abdelgbani Zigh

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Longitudinal ventilation systems in transit and rail tunnels are typically analyzed by one dimensional ventilation network simulation models, such as the Subway Environment Simulation (SES) program. However, in recent years computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling has been utilized in conjunction with one-dimensional ventilation network programs to study ventilation systems for large volume spaces such as transit stations and rail overbuilds, as well as for vehicular tunnels. CFD uses numerical methods to simulate complex fluid flow phenomena in three dimensions to predict the distribution of velocity, pressure, temperature, concentration, and other relevant variables throughout the volume. This paper presents an overview …

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Developments In Longwall Ventilation, Jürgen F. Brune, Joseph P. Aman, Mike Kotch Jun 1999

Developments In Longwall Ventilation, Jürgen F. Brune, Joseph P. Aman, Mike Kotch

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Rapid development in longwall mining technology has brought significant changes in panel layout and geometry. These changes require adaptations in the ventilation system to provide sufficient air quantities in longwall face and bleeder areas. At CONSOL, various longwall bleeder systems in the Pittsburgh No. 8 Seam have been studied with detailed ventilation surveys. Computer model network simulations were conducted from these surveys to study the effects of different bleeder configurations and ventilation adjustments. This paper examines the relationships between the longwall face air quantity and the convergence in the tailgate-to-bleeder entries, number of development entries, bleeder fan pressure and the …

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Replacement Of A Major Ventilation Raise At The Homestake Gold Mine, Justus B. Deen, John R. Marks, Leetta M. Shaffner Jun 1999

Replacement Of A Major Ventilation Raise At The Homestake Gold Mine, Justus B. Deen, John R. Marks, Leetta M. Shaffner

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Few tasks are more important to the Ventilation Engineer than planning major airways. This paper presents a case study of the inception, design, installation, cost and performance of a 253 m long, 4.27 m diameter subsurface replacement exhaust raise and its connecting drifts. The original raise served as a component of the primary exhaustway (140 m3/s) and heat rejection sink (8MW) for the deepest production district, responsible for 45% of the mine's total ounce production. The chronology of ground control problems with the original raise and attempts to halt the unraveling are described. Planning for a replacement raise commenced once …

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Performance Assessment Of A Multi-Stage Cooling System At San Manuel Mine, Kuda R. Mutama Jun 1999

Performance Assessment Of A Multi-Stage Cooling System At San Manuel Mine, Kuda R. Mutama

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

This paper describes the mine ventilation cooling system at San Manuel Mine, which has evolved as new deeper and hotter working levels were added to the mine, between 1979 -1997. The expansion philosophy was based on utilizing existing facilities, providing lower capital cost and operational convenience. The cooling system is comprised of three surface chillers of 10.55 Megawatts (3,000 tons) total cooling capacity. Cooling towers, also located on surface, ultimately reject all the heat from underground system. The chilled water is pumped to a shell and tube heat exchanger station located 915 metres underground in a high pressure circulating water …

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Three Underground Coal Mine Explosions — Twenty Miners Killed — One Reason, Andrzej M. Wala, Jason R. Stoltz Jun 1999

Three Underground Coal Mine Explosions — Twenty Miners Killed — One Reason, Andrzej M. Wala, Jason R. Stoltz

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Three mine explosions which occurred in the 1980s (1983 - McClure No. 1 Mine, Virginia; 1984 - Greenwich Collieries No. 1 Mine, Pennsylvania; and 1989- Pyro No.9 Slope Williams Station Mine, Kentucky) cost twenty lives. The authors, by investigating these three cases, found a common ventilation problem. This problem was the misunderstanding of the diagonal connections in the mine ventilation system (MVS). Based on the findings from these investigations, the authors explain the importance of diagonal connections in a MVS and discuss other factors that affected safety.

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On Criteria Of Stability Of Fans Operating In Parallel, Jerzy Krawczyk Jun 1999

On Criteria Of Stability Of Fans Operating In Parallel, Jerzy Krawczyk

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Ventilation systems with fans operating in parallel may have multiple operating points. The submitted paper presents a method which enables to reduce the number of points which should be taken into consideration. The concepts of a fan system containing: the fan, inlet duct, regulation door subsystem and its total characteristics were introduced. The analysis of local stability of equilibrium points of the system of ordinary differential equations describing unsteady incompressible flow in a simplified network ventilated by 2 fans in parallel leads to formulation of a simple condition of stability. For fans operating in parallel this condition refers to the …

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Expert System For Mine Supervising Staff Fire Hazard Monitoring And Fire - Fighting, Waclaw Dziurzynski, Stanislaw Wasilewski Jun 1999

Expert System For Mine Supervising Staff Fire Hazard Monitoring And Fire - Fighting, Waclaw Dziurzynski, Stanislaw Wasilewski

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

The paper presents the functions of an expert system designed for mine supervising staff responsible for fire hazard monitoring and fire-fighting. The essence of the system is to gather the complete data from hazard monitoring systems and the results of manual measurements made by ventilation staff in a common database. The database can be used for analysis and engineering calculation employed in mine ventilation supervision and also for the prevention against natural hazards, in particular fire and methane. Hardware and software tools developed within the framework of the system will also be used during rescue operation.

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Autocad Based Mine Ventilation Analysis, Ted Sartain, Don Scheck Jun 1999

Autocad Based Mine Ventilation Analysis, Ted Sartain, Don Scheck

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Mine Vent is a mine ventilation analysis system which runs inside AutoCAD and uses the Penn State and other ventilation simulators. Working from AutoCAD as-mined and projected mine maps, the user picks the node locations and connects them with branches that correspond to the airway paths. Where survey data is not available, the system uses formulas to compute resistances. The system prompts the user for necessary parameters but the branch lengths are automatically computed. Powerful editing features reduce the time to modify existing schematics and try alternative ventilation options. The system also includes a survey data reduction module which outputs …

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Optimization Of The Ventilation System At Kidd Mine Of Falcon Bridge Limited, Josef Sedlacek Jun 1999

Optimization Of The Ventilation System At Kidd Mine Of Falcon Bridge Limited, Josef Sedlacek

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Kidd Mine is the single largest producing base metal mine of Falconbridge Limited. Approximately 3 million tonnes of zinc-copper ore is produced annually. The present ventilation system, designed some 30 years ago, uses a multitude of intake and exhaust fans, in a series-parallel configuration, to move 925 m3/s (2,000,000 cfm) through the mine. The system, owing to the ever increasing depth of mining, has reached its limitation and has become cumbersome to maintain. It was recognized that with the mine progressing from the original depth of 855 m (2800 ft) to the current depth of 2070 m (6800 …

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Water Injection In Longwall Top-Coal Caving Face In China, Zhang Yong, Fu Gui Jun 1999

Water Injection In Longwall Top-Coal Caving Face In China, Zhang Yong, Fu Gui

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

This paper discussed the means of improving dust control efficiency using water injection. At first, the authors point out that internal water has effect on dust control. The objective of water injection is to increase the amount of internal water. Secondly, by analyzing the development trend of crack in top-coal, proper water injection station and boleholes can be determined for dust control.

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Recovery Of Methane From The Abandoned Golden Eagle Mine Property, Kenton L. Hupp, Carol Bibler, Raymond C. Pilcher Jun 1999

Recovery Of Methane From The Abandoned Golden Eagle Mine Property, Kenton L. Hupp, Carol Bibler, Raymond C. Pilcher

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

The abandoned Golden Eagle underground coal mine in Colorado contains gassy coals from which Stroud Oil Properties, Inc. (Stroud) has been recovering gas since 1996. The mine closed permanently in 1996, and during its operation drained methane from gob and ventilation boreholes. Stroud currently produces about 1.8 million cubic feet of near pipeline quality gas per day from six of these boreholes. Although the project has proven successful, gas recovery has been challenging because of low bottom hole pressure and variable borehole performance. Wellhead compressors are required to boost gas pressure for delivery to the main plant. Connecting additional boreholes …

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Methane Drainage At The Minerales Monclova Mines In The Sabinas Coal Basin, Coahuila, Mexico, Daniel J. Brunner, Jose Ruben Ponce Jun 1999

Methane Drainage At The Minerales Monclova Mines In The Sabinas Coal Basin, Coahuila, Mexico, Daniel J. Brunner, Jose Ruben Ponce

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Minerales Monclova S.A. De C.V. (MIMOSA) operates five underground longwall mines in the Gassy Los Olmos Coals of the Sabinas Basin in the state of Coahuila in Northern Mexico. Because of high in-situ gas contents and high cleat and natural fracture permeability, MIMOSA has had to incorporate a system of methane drainage in advance of mining in order to safely and cost effectively exploit their reserves. In the early 1990s Resource Enterprises (REI) conducted reservoir characterization tests, numerical simulations, and Coal Mine Methane (CMM) production tests at a nearby mine property in the same basin. Using this information REI approached …

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Proposed Regulation On Diesel Particulate Matter In Underground Coal Mines, Thomas F. Tomb Jun 1999

Proposed Regulation On Diesel Particulate Matter In Underground Coal Mines, Thomas F. Tomb

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

The Mine Safety and Health Administration published a proposed rule for underground coal mines that use diesel-powered equipment. The proposed rule, published April 9, 1998, would establish new health standards. These new standards would reduce the risks to miners of serious health hazards that are associated with exposure to high concentrations of diesel particulate matter (dpm). The proposed rule would require that mine operators install and maintain high efficiency filtration systems on the most polluting types of diesel-powered equipment. The rule would also require that miners be trained about the hazards of dpm exposure. This paper reviews the requirements of …

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Mine Fire Detection In The Presence Of Diesel Emissions, J. C. Edwards, R. A. Franks, G. F. Friel, C. P. Lazzara, J. J. Opferman Jun 1999

Mine Fire Detection In The Presence Of Diesel Emissions, J. C. Edwards, R. A. Franks, G. F. Friel, C. P. Lazzara, J. J. Opferman

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

A series of four coal combustion experiments was conducted at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's (NIOSH) Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL) in the Safety Research Coal Mine (SRCM) to evaluate the response of fire sensors to a small 0.61 m square smoldering coal fire which transitions to flaming combustion in the presence of diesel emissions. An optical path smoke sensor alarmed earlier than a point type diffusion mode ionization smoke sensor, which alarmed prior to a co alert value of 5 PPM above ambient. The presence of steady state diesel emissions resulted in a decrease in the optical …

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Non-Destructive Field Measurements Of Rock Temperature And Heat Flow In A Hot Mine, Vilen P. Chernyak, Eduard N. Malashenko, Pierre Mousset-Jones Jun 1999

Non-Destructive Field Measurements Of Rock Temperature And Heat Flow In A Hot Mine, Vilen P. Chernyak, Eduard N. Malashenko, Pierre Mousset-Jones

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

A number of thermophysical measurements were carried out at the Meikle mine in Nevada in order to obtain new data concerning heat flows and wall temperatures in a hot mine. This was necessary to verify known methods of heat flow calculation and compare experimental with theoretical results. The Meikle mine was chosen because it is operated in an area of high rock temperature caused by the hydrothermal nature of the deposit and the presence of water at 60°C. The airflow rates in some of the inactive areas and the predicted background rock temperature at the mine are similar to those …

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Foreword, Jerry C. Tien Jun 1999

Foreword, Jerry C. Tien

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

No abstract provided.

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Committees, Multiple Members Jun 1999

Committees, Multiple Members

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

No abstract provided.

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Published Proceedings Of The Previous Mine Ventilation Symposia, Multiple Authors Jun 1999

Published Proceedings Of The Previous Mine Ventilation Symposia, Multiple Authors

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

No abstract provided.

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Ventilation System Design For A Thin-Seam Mining Panel, Darren Holman, Ian Loomis, Malcolm Mcpherson Jun 1999

Ventilation System Design For A Thin-Seam Mining Panel, Darren Holman, Ian Loomis, Malcolm Mcpherson

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

The extraction of coal from thin-seams is an important component of the future of coal mining in the commonwealth of Virginia. For thin-seam mining systems to be successful they must be able to provide production comparable to the current production methods in thicker seams. This necessitates the extensive use of remote mining technology. Regardless of The level of automation of the remote systems, efficient ventilation remains of paramount importance. This paper investigates several thin-seam mine panel schemes and possible variations in the ventilation systems. The primary approach made, however, is one of a pair of parallel panels mined simultaneously. A …

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Mathematical Description Of Air Cooling Using A Mining Diaphragm Cooler Taking Into Consideration The Condensation Of Water Vapour, Waclaw Dziunyński, Stanislaw Nawrat, Bernard Nowak, Janusz Roszkowski Jun 1999

Mathematical Description Of Air Cooling Using A Mining Diaphragm Cooler Taking Into Consideration The Condensation Of Water Vapour, Waclaw Dziunyński, Stanislaw Nawrat, Bernard Nowak, Janusz Roszkowski

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Taking into consideration the possibility of condensation of water vapour contained in air which flows through a diaphragm cooler, a mathematical model of space-time changes in air temperature, humidity, and also in the temperature of the heat exchanger and the cooling water in the cooler in question was created. In the mathematical description of air-cooling using the above-mentioned cooler two zones was identified. The first concerns the dry cooling of air, while within the second, the process of outdropping of water contained in the cooled air. Each of these zones has been described by applying a system of three partial …

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Rapid Extinguishing Of Sponcom Fires In Underground Mines, Zygmunt Kajdasz, George Zieba Jun 1999

Rapid Extinguishing Of Sponcom Fires In Underground Mines, Zygmunt Kajdasz, George Zieba

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

The main purpose presented in this paper is to present active and passive methods to fight a sponcom fire. The active method uses an inert gas generator called the GAG while the passive method is through the use of ventilation software. In most sponcom situations a combination of these two methods results in rapid extinguishing of the overheated areas. The presented software allows for accurate and "real time" analysis of the ventilation network. Application of the GAG has been proven on many occasions as an effective means of large volumes of mine atmosphere.

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Performance Of Distributed Bagged Stone Dust Barrier In Combating Coal-Dust Explosions, Jan J. L. Du Plessis, Pierre S. Vassard Jun 1999

Performance Of Distributed Bagged Stone Dust Barrier In Combating Coal-Dust Explosions, Jan J. L. Du Plessis, Pierre S. Vassard

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

The Kloppersbos Research Facility of the CSIR's Division of Mining Technology has developed a new method of building stone dust barriers. The new barrier makes use of a previous concept of containing stone dust in a bag, but incorporates a new method of rupturing the bag. This was achieved by adapting the closing mechanism and by balancing the stone dust content with the void in the bag. The bagged barrier was extensively tested in the 200-m test gallery. During these tests, it became evident that these bags could be made to rupture and spread stone dust when subjected to smaller …

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Cfd Analysis Of Mine Fire Smoke Spread And Reverse Flow Conditions, J. C. Edwards, C. C. Hwang Jun 1999

Cfd Analysis Of Mine Fire Smoke Spread And Reverse Flow Conditions, J. C. Edwards, C. C. Hwang

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program was used to model buoyancy induced Product-Of-Combustion (POC) spread from experimental fires in the National Institute For Occupational Safety And Health (NIOSH), Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL), safety research coal mine. In one application, the CFD program was used to predict spread from fires in an entry under zero airflow conditions. At a location, 0.41 m below the entry's roof at a distance of 30 m from the fire, the measured smoke spread rates were 0.093 and 0.23 m/s for a 30 and a 296 kw fire, respectively. The CFD program predicted spread rates of …

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Gob Spontaneous Combustion In A Fully Mechanized Long-Wall Top-Coal Caving Face, Jingcai Xu, Jun Deng, Xinghai Zhang, Xingming Guo, Fu Wen Jun 1999

Gob Spontaneous Combustion In A Fully Mechanized Long-Wall Top-Coal Caving Face, Jingcai Xu, Jun Deng, Xinghai Zhang, Xingming Guo, Fu Wen

U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Geological conditions allow, underground coal mines in China tend to use comprehensively mechanized roof-coal caving technique in an effort to gain a higher degree of mechanization at coal faces as well as higher coal production rates. As a face advances, a large amount of coal will be left behind in its gob area which may experience a self-enhancing process of coal oxidation and heat accumulation, ultimately leading to open fire. Such a self-enhancing coal spontaneous combustion process is a significantly impeding mine safety and productivity. A sound mathematical model is an important step to predict the probability of spontaneous combustion …

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