SIMULATION OF METHANE DISTRIBUTION AND VENTILATION IN UNDERGROUND

MINES: POTENTIAL FOR A NOVEL INTERMITTENT AIRFLOW SYSTEM

J.C. Kurnia
1,2
and A.S. Mujumdar
1,2,3*

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National University of Singapore,
9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576
(First author: kurnia.jc@gmail.com)

2
Minerals Metals and Material Technology Centre
National University of Singapore
9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576
(*Corresponding author: mpeasm@nus.edu.sg)

3
Department of Bioresource Engineering
McGill University
111 Lakeshore Road Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Qubec, Canada H9X 3V9






SIMULATION OF METHANE DISTRIBUTION AND VENTILATION IN UNDERGROUND
MINES: POTENTIAL FOR A NOVEL INTERMITTENT AIRFLOW SYSTEM

ABSTRACT

Methane is recognized as one of the prime causes of underground mine disasters around the globe.
A cost-effective mine ventilation system and methane control is required to ensure a safe and productive
environment in an underground mine whilst keeping energy usage and operating cost at minimum.
Typically methane enters a mine environment or tunnel from localized distributed sources at high initial
concentration. Hence, an understanding of its dispersion from discrete sources is important to design a
methane management system via effective ventilation. This study employs computational fluid dynamics
to model methane dispersion in an underground tunnel which has a number of discrete sources of methane
and effective ways to dilute and or disperse it. Air flow distribution within the tunnel as well as methane
dispersion is simulated by solving the governing transport equations subject to appropriate boundary
conditions. First, the effectiveness of ventilation duct placement is examined. Several possibilities are
explored and investigated. It is found that the common configuration utilized in underground mine
performs best as compared to other configurations in maintaining the concentration of methane below
permissible levels. Next, a novel intermittent airflow ventilation system is proposed and evaluated via
simulation with the goal of reducing the energy cost whilst maintaining methane level in the mining face
below the allowable level. Parametric studies are conducted to investigate effects of various factors
influencing the effectiveness and performance of this novel intermittent ventilation system. This study will
provide some new ideas for designing an efficient and effective underground mine ventilation system by
lowering the net average amount of air that needs to be circulated in the tunnel for a safe operation.




KEYWORDS

Computational fluid dynamics, Intermittent flow, Mine ventilation, Underground mining, Ventilation
modelling

INTRODUCTION

For decades, the presence of methane has been a major safety hazard in underground mining. It is
consistently found in most underground mines (especially underground coal mines). Methane is the prime
cause of many mining disasters around the globe. Several major incidents and accidents in underground
coal mines with fatalities have been reported (Torano et al., 2009); for example, a devastating mine
explosion in Courrieres, France which killed over 1000 mine workers in 1906, an explosion in the 8
th

Coalbed at San Nicolas, Spain in 1995 which claimed 14 lives, the disaster in Upper Big Branch mine,
West Virginia USA in 2010 with 29 fatalities (McAtter et al., 2011) and recently a mine blast in southwest
China killed 18 people (Channel NewsAsia, 2012). To prevent such major accidents from occurring in the
future as well as to ensure a safe and productive environment in an underground mine, a proper ventilation
system is mandatory. Most ventilation systems installed in underground coal mines nowadays need to
supply excess fresh air to ensure safe methane concentrations as required by local codes. While this
approach could maintain low methane concentrations, it requires tremendous energy to drive excessive air
to various locations in underground mines and in turn impose huge operational costs on the mining
industry. This situation is worsening as more countries start taxing carbon emissions resulted from energy
usage which could in many instances in future, cost more than the energy cost itself. As such, effective
mine ventilation strategies is required to ensure a safe and productive environment in an underground mine
whilst keeping energy usage and operating cost at minimum.



Figure 1 Various duct placements in a typical underground mine tunnel with discrete methane sources.
Tunnel geometry is taken from previous work by Parra et al., 2006

In response to this requirement, a large number of experimental and numerical studies focusing on
flow behaviour and methane dispersion in underground mines have been carried out and reported in the
public domain. Nakayama et al. (1999) developed a CFD model for methane gas distribution in a mining
face. They validated their model using the experimental results of Ichinose et al. (1998) who conducted
in-situ measurement and CFD simulation to examine methane gas distribution in the mining face zone. An
important finding of Nakayamas study was that the methane gas concentration was found to be higher at
locations transverse in and along the corner space where the face end meets the ceiling and the floor as well
as area underneath the ventilation duct. Torano et al. (2009) studied methane dispersion in a Spanish
underground coal mine with an auxiliary ventilation system. Consistent with the finding of Kissel and
Wallhagen (1976), Schultz et al. (1993), Haney et al. (1982) and Kissel (2006), they found that a forced
ventilation system is more effective in delivering fresh air to the mining face as compared to ventilation
system which utilizes only an exhaust fan.

Wala et al. (2003, 2007, 2008) conducted experimental and numerical studies on methane
distribution in the vicinity of the mining face. They investigated various scenarios which could occur in an
underground coal mine including the box cut and slab cut scenarios. They also examined the effect of
scrubber operation on face ventilation and methane distribution. Even though no definite conclusion has
been made, they highlighted the importance of CFD modelling in developing an effective mine ventilation
system. Recently, Sasmito et al. (2012) reported a numerical study examining various auxiliary ventilation
systems which could provide sufficient oxygen for the miner and maintain methane concentrations at a safe
level while keeping energy usage low. They also examined various cutting scenarios in underground mine
operations. They found that proper flow stopping design could enhance gas control throughout the mines
whilst maintaining low pressure drops. In addition, they concluded that a combination of brattice and
exhausting system offers the best option for methane handling. Following up on Sasmitos work, Kurnia et
al, carried out studies to develop mine ventilation systems which could efficiently control dust, methane
and other hazardous gases in an underground mine (Kurnia et al., 2012; Kurnia and Mujumdar, 2012a,b).

Generally, methane enters a mine tunnel as localized sources at high concentration (Kissel, 2006).
As methane emerges from these discrete sources, it progressively mixes with the ventilation air as it is
dispersed and diluted. Hence, understanding its dispersion from discrete sources is important to design a
safe methane management system via effective ventilation. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness
of a ventilation system installed in an underground mine tunnel which has a number of discrete sources of
methane via a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. First, the effectiveness of ventilation duct
placement is examined. Several possibilities are explored and investigated. Next, a novel intermittent
airflow ventilation system is proposed and evaluated via simulation with the goal of reducing the energy
cost whilst maintaining methane level in the mining face below the allowable level. The authors believe
this to be an innovative concept being proposed and evaluated for the first time.

MATHEMATICAL MODEL

A three-dimensional model was developed for a typical mine tunnel which is the simplest and the
most used in underground coal mining studies (please refer to Figure 1a). This tunnel geometry is taken
from the previous work by Parra et al. (2006). The mine tunnel is 36 m long, 3.6 m wide and 2.9 m high.
Methane is released from ten sources (10 x 10 cm
2
) into the mining face with total flow rate of 0.05 m
3
/s.
A ventilation duct with a diameter of 0.6 m is hung at the various positions in the access road (details on
the duct placement can be found in Table 1). Its setback distance from the mining face is 6 m.

Table 1 Geometric parameters
Duct placements Base case Bottom Side Top
Height (m) 1.9 0.7 1.1 2.5
Space from wall (m) 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.8

Governing equations

We solve the mass, momentum, energy and species transport subject to appropriate boundary
conditions. Methane is released from discrete sources in the mining face and dispersed by the ventilation
airflow. Conservation equations for mass, momentum, energy and species in vector form are:

,
t

u (1)

( ) ( ) ( ) ( )( ) [ ]
2
,
3
T
p t t k g
t
= + + + + + +

( +

u u u I I
u
u u (2)

( ) ,
Pr
p t
p p eff
t
c T
c c T k T
t

+ = +

| |
|
\
u (3)

( ) ( )
,
.
t
i i i eff i
t
D
t Sc

+ = +

| |
|
\
u (4)

where is the fluid density, u is the fluid velocity, p is the pressure, is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid,
I is the identity or second order unit tensor, g is gravity acceleration, c
p
is the specific heat of the fluid, T is
the temperature,
i
is the mass fraction of species i (O
2
, CH
4
and N
2
), D
i
is diffusivity of species i,
t
is
turbulent viscosity and Sc is Schmidt number. Unlike most of the earlier studies, this treatment included
thermal effects which are known to affect the flow and species concentration distributions.

Constitutive relations

A ternary species mixture comprising of oxygen, water vapour and methane exists in the
ventilation air in the tunnel. The interaction between the species is captured in the mixture density which
follows incompressible ideal gas law given by (Sasmito et al., 2012):

,
pM
RT
= (5)

where R is the universal gas constant and M refers to the mixture molecular weight given by


4 2 2 2
4 2 2 2
1
.
CH O H O N
CH O H O N
M
M M M M

= + + +
(
(

(6)

Here, M
i
is the molecular mass of species i. Mass fraction of nitrogen is calculated as:


( )
2 2 2 4
1 .
N O H O CH
= + + (7)

The fluid mixture viscosity is calculated using


4 2 2 2
,
with and = CH , O , H O and N
i i
i
i i j
j
x
i j
x

(8)

where x
i,j
are the mole fraction of species i and j and


2
1 1 1
2 2 4
,
1
1 1 .
8
i i i
i j
j j j
M M
M M

= + +
(
| | | | | |
(
| | |
(
\ \ \

(9)

The mole fractions are related to the mass fractions by x
i
=
i
M/M
i
. In-line with the concentration unit
commonly used in applicable regulations, methane concentration in this paper is presented in % by volume.
In addition, fan power is calculated as:

.
fan fan fan
P P Q =
&
(10)

where P
fan
is the pressure rise across the inlet and outlet of fan and
fan
Q
&
is the volumetric flow rate of the
fan. It should be noted that the actual fan power would be different depending on fan efficiency.

Turbulence model

The most commonly used turbulence model in engineering viz. k- was selected for this work.
This model comprises two-equations which solve for turbulent kinetic energy, k, and its rate of dissipation,
, which is coupled to the turbulent viscosity (Wilcox, 2006). This model is also known to be
computationally efficient and reasonably reliable for the configurations under investigation.

Boundary conditions

The applicable boundary conditions are as follows: (i) At walls: the standard wall function is used
in all simulations; (ii) At the duct outlet: air velocity of 12 m/s is prescribed at the duct outlet (Parra et al.,
2006); (iii) At the mining face: methane is released at total flow rate of 0.05 m
3
/s (Torrano et al., 2009);
(iv) At the outlet: stream-wise gradient of the temperature and species is set to zero and the pressure is set
to standard atmospheric pressure (1 bar).

NUMERICAL METHODOLOGY

The computational domains were created, meshed and labelled in the commercial code Gambit
2.3.16. Three different sizes of mesh 6 10
5
, 1 10
6
and 1.8 10
6
were implemented and compared in
terms of local pressure, velocities, and methane concentration to ensure a mesh independent solution. We
found that the mesh size of around 1 10
6
gives about 2% deviation compared to the mesh size of 1.8
10
6
; whereas, the results from a mesh size of 6 10
5
deviate up to 12% as compared to those from the
finest one. Therefore, a mesh of around 1 million elements was deemed sufficient for the numerical
investigation purposes, comprising a fine structure near the wall and increasingly coarser mesh in the
middle of the tunnel to reduce the computational cost to manageable level.

The conservation equations together with the constitutive relations, turbulence model and
boundary conditions were solved using a finite volume solver, Fluent 6.3.26. The equations were solved
with the Semi-Implicit Pressure-Linked Equation (SIMPLE) algorithm, first order upwind discretization
and Algebraic Multigrid Method (AGM). On average, each simulation required around 1000-3000
iterations to meet convergence criteria of 10
-6
for all variables. Each run required around 5-6 hours on
workstations with six core processor, requiring 46 GB RAM.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Flow behaviour and methane dispersion in a mine tunnel model with discrete methane sources
were investigated. In the following section we will present and discuss the effects of ventilation duct
placement and explore various possible configurations of our newly proposed innovative intermittent
ventilation system.

Ventilation duct placement

Before proceeding with the study of the innovative intermittent ventilation system, it is of interest
to first investigate the effectiveness of ventilation duct placement commonly adopted in underground
mines. Four possible duct placements are examined: base, bottom, side and top position. One of our goals
in this CFD study was to see if simple changes in geometry and placement of the duct work would affect
the ventilation characteristics in a favourable way. The objective was not to increase capital costs, but to
allow retrofits and at the same time reduce the electrical power demand without jeopardizing ventilation
performance.



Figure 2 Velocity contours (m/s) at plane 1 m from the mine floor for the tunnel with various ventilation
duct placement

Figure 2 presents velocity profiles at 1 m height from the mine floor for various duct locations.
Variation in duct placement significantly affects the airflow profiles in the mine tunnel. It is observed that
the base case, where ventilation duct located on the top right of the tunnel, provides more uniform velocity
in the mine tunnel as compared to other duct placements, for which a higher velocity is only observed in
the front section of the mine tunnel.



Figure 3 Methane concentration (% by volume) at plane 1, 8, 16, 24, 32 m from the mining face for the
tunnel with various ventilation duct placement

The effect of duct placement on methane concentration distribution is prominent only in the front
entry section of the mine tunnel, as can be seen from Figure 3. As can be seen, base case and top positions
offer better methane control as they tend to confine higher concentrations to the floor region - presumably
these would be diluted if they tried to migrate upward. At a location far from the mining face, we see that
methane concentration is relatively uniform and similar for all configurations. Looking further into the
methane concentration along the mining tunnel as shown in Figure 4, it is found that all strategies can
maintain methane levels below the explosion limit (5% by volume methane concentration). On average,
the base case configuration, where ventilation duct located on the top right of the tunnel, performs best in
managing methane emission. However, base case position has higher maximum concentration, indicating
methane concentration build up at certain point along the tunnel.



Figure 4 a) Maximum and b) cross-section average methane concentration (% by volume) along the
tunnel with various ventilation duct placement
Effect of intermittency

In the previous section, we noted that the base case duct placement, which is commonly
implemented in underground mine, offers the best methane handling strategy as compared to other
placements. Here, we evaluate several possible intermittency designs and compare their performance in
terms of methane concentration and possible energy savings as compared to one with a traditional constant
ventilation flow. A 12 m/s constant air velocity from the main ventilation duct blowing directly towards
the mining face (case i) is compared with three intermittency scenarios: (case ii) 5 min high velocity (12
m/s) and 5 min low velocity (6 m/s); (case iii) 5 min high velocity (12 m/s) and 10 min low velocity (6
m/s); and (case iv) 5 min high velocity (12 m/s) and 15 min low velocity (6 m/s). These configurations
represent an underground mine which has 2, 3 and 4 active mining area and the desire to cycle the
maximum ventilation through them.



Figure 5 Velocity contour (m/s) at height 1 m from the mine floor for case iii (intermittent flow 5 min
high velocity of 12 m/s and 10 min low velocity of 6 m/s)



Figure 6 Predicted methane concentration contours (% by volume) at 1, 8, 16, 24, 32 m from the mine
face for case iii (intermittent flow 5 min high velocity of 12 m/s and 10 min low velocity of 6 m/s)

The intermittency leads to dynamic behaviour in the flow (Figure 5) and methane concentrations
(Figure 6). The step changes in ventilation velocity changes the overall velocity behaviour inside the
tunnel: when high velocity applies (Figures 5a and d), a relatively high flow velocity develops throughout
the tunnel dispersing methane emission and forcing it to leave the tunnel (Figures 6a and d); conversely,
when low air velocity applies, air flow velocity throughout the tunnel reduces significantly (up to 70% at
the outlet region, see Figures 5b and c); this is further mirrored by the rise in the methane concentration up
to twice the full flow scenario (Figures 6b and c) and then reduces back to low methane concentration as
the intermittent flow is periodically applied. It is also noteworthy to mention that during one period of
intermittency, methane concentration at high velocity becomes somewhat higher throughout the tunnel (~
10%, please refer Figures 6a and d).
Another important finding is that intermittency duration plays an important role in methane
removal (Please refer to Figure 7). The results suggest that shorter intermittency duration, case ii, yields
the slightly lower average methane concentration as compared to other intermittent scenarios. This is
attributed to the shorter period for methane accumulation during low velocity ventilation which alleviates
higher methane concentration. Looking to the maximum methane concentration throughout the tunnel in
Table 2, we note that the maximum methane concentration increases to almost double once the
intermittency (reduce air velocity to half) is applied. At the distance of 1 m from the mining face where the
miners typically works, the methane concentration for all cases considered goes beyond its explosive level
(more than 5.5%) which may trigger explosion when it mixes with oxygen and spark. These results
indicates that for the mine considered in this study, intermittency by reducing air velocity into half may not
be feasible to maintain the methane concentration below its allowable limit. More parametric studies are
needed for a definitive conclusion.

Table 2 Maximum methane concentration (% by volume) for various intermittent modes.
Cases Cross-section
Time (min)
0 2.5 5 7.5 10 12.5 15 17.5 20
Case 1
Steady flow
1 m 3.78 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.76 3.76 3.76 3.76 3.76
5 m 1.98 1.97 1.97 1.97 1.97 1.97 1.97 1.97 1.97
10 m 1.71 1.70 1.70 1.70 1.70 1.70 1.70 1.70 1.70
Case 2 *
5 min high
5 min low
1 m 3.75 3.75 3.75 6.73 6.83 3.79 3.75 6.78 6.80
5 m 1.97 1.97 1.97 3.60 3.81 1.99 1.96 3.59 3.80
10 m 1.70 1.70 1.70 2.98 3.14 1.73 1.69 2.99 3.14
Case 3*
5 min high
10 min low
1 m 3.75 3.75 3.72 6.74 6.83 6.83 6.81 3.79 3.76
5 m 1.97 1.97 1.97 3.60 3.81 3.89 3.93 2.00 1.97
10 m 1.70 1.70 1.67 2.99 3.14 3.18 3.20 1.74 1.70
Case 4*
5 min high
15 min low
1 m 3.71 3.71 3.72 6.74 6.84 6.83 6.81 6.75 6.72
5 m 1.97 1.97 1.97 3.60 3.82 3.90 3.93 3.95 3.95
15 m 1.67 1.67 1.67 2.99 3.14 3.18 3.20 3.22 3.24
*high = 12 m/s and low = 6 m/s

Table 3 Energy saving for various intermittent modes
Cases Description
Pressure
difference
(Pa)
Volumetric flow
rate (m
3
/s)
Fan power
(Watt)
Energy
saving
#

(%)
Case 1* Steady flow (12 m/s) 89.89 3.39 304.72 0
Case 2
5 min high (12 m/s) 89.89 3.39 304.72
43.51
5 min low (6 m/s) 23.42 1.69 39.58
Case 3
5 min high (12 m/s) 89.89 3.39 304.72
58.01
10 min low (6 m/s) 23.42 1.69 39.58
Case 4
5 min high (12 m/s) 89.89 3.39 304.72
65.26
15 min low (6 m/s) 23.42 1.69 39.58
* Case 1 is the base case used as reference for energy saving calculation
# Power saving is calculated based on 1-hour operation



Figure 7 a) Cross-section average methane concentration at 1 m from the mining face and b) volume
average methane concentration (% v/v) throughout the mine tunnel for various intermittent modes

Despite its somewhat inferior performance on handling methane removal, intermittency offers
potential for energy saving as given in Table 3. It is noted that significant amount of energy saving can be
achieved up to 43.5, 58 and 65% for case ii, iii and iv as compared to case i, respectively. The saving will
even be higher when it is translated to the annual operating cost saving and, to some extent, company can
claim for carbon emission trading as well. Clearly, it can be deduced that intermittency has potential to be
implemented for energy saving; on the other hand, an improved intermittency design should be developed
and more studies is required to enhance methane removal and optimize the operating condition. If the air
flow volume is increased further, intermittent ventilation could be a cost effective method.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, methane dispersion in an underground tunnel which has a number of discrete
sources of methane is investigated by utilizing a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. Air flow
distribution within the tunnel as well as methane dispersion is simulated by solving the governing transport
equations subject to appropriate boundary conditions. Several different possible ventilation duct
placements in an underground mine tunnel have been studied and examined. The results indicate that base
case position, where the ventilation duct hung at the corner of the tunnel, which traditionally used in
underground mine performs best in dispersing the methane emission and reducing methane concentration
in mine tunnel. In addition, it is found that all configurations could maintain methane concentration below
its explosive level.

Subsequently, we introduce and evaluate intermittent flow ventilation system to reduce energy
usage. The results are not so promising, based on the CFD results obtained to date for a model
underground mine, whereby intermittency by reducing air velocity into half could not maintain a low
methane concentration. For mines where methane is not a primary issue (non-coal underground mines),
however, intermittent flow with 5 min high velocity and 15 min low velocity could offer up to 65% of
energy savings. Such energy savings will not only reduce expenses in electricity bill but also will result in
very significant savings from carbon tax credits. More parametric studies are now being carried out to
obtain an optimum ventilation design which could save energy usage and in turn carbon credit tax
associated with it even more. In addition this study will be extended to investigate application of
intermittent flow ventilation system in non-coal underground mine where diesel emission is the prime
issues rather than methane as in underground coal mine.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was financially supported by Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) through
Minerals Metals and Materials Technology Centre (M3TC) Research Grant R-261-501-013-414.

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