TY - GEN
T1 - Modeling capture efficiency for a flooded bed dust scrubber incorporated into a longwall shearer using a small scale physical model and CFD
AU - Kumar, A. R.
AU - Wedding, W. C.
AU - Jolly, A.
AU - Arya, S.
AU - Novak, T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 by SME.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Coal dust in an underground mining environment has always been a health and safety issue, especially with longwall faces. Efforts to integrate a flooded bed scrubber within a longwall shearer are underway at the University of Kentucky (UK) in order to reduce worker exposure. Small scale physical modeling, along with numerical modeling and full-scale experimentation, are engineering tools being used by the authors for simulating operating conditions underground. Recent advances in affordable 3D printers offer a means for fabricating accurate, scale models for obtaining timely insights prior to building large, expensive test setups. Comparing scale-model results with those of numerical modeling, such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD), lends guidance and confidence in a proposed design. This paper discusses the small scale physical modeling of a longwall shearer with an incorporated flooded-bed dust scrubber in its operating environment. A tracer gas was used in the model in lieu of dust to measure dust-capture efficiency. Results obtained from the physical model are presented and compared with those of CFD model. The small scale model and the CFD results demonstrate good agreement. Dust capture results show the usefulness of the approach in advance of actual design implementation.
AB - Coal dust in an underground mining environment has always been a health and safety issue, especially with longwall faces. Efforts to integrate a flooded bed scrubber within a longwall shearer are underway at the University of Kentucky (UK) in order to reduce worker exposure. Small scale physical modeling, along with numerical modeling and full-scale experimentation, are engineering tools being used by the authors for simulating operating conditions underground. Recent advances in affordable 3D printers offer a means for fabricating accurate, scale models for obtaining timely insights prior to building large, expensive test setups. Comparing scale-model results with those of numerical modeling, such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD), lends guidance and confidence in a proposed design. This paper discusses the small scale physical modeling of a longwall shearer with an incorporated flooded-bed dust scrubber in its operating environment. A tracer gas was used in the model in lieu of dust to measure dust-capture efficiency. Results obtained from the physical model are presented and compared with those of CFD model. The small scale model and the CFD results demonstrate good agreement. Dust capture results show the usefulness of the approach in advance of actual design implementation.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84988373347
T3 - 2016 SME Annual Conference and Expo: The Future for Mining in a Data-Driven World
SP - 584
EP - 586
BT - 2016 SME Annual Conference and Expo
PB - Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration
T2 - 2016 SME Annual Conference and Expo: The Future for Mining in a Data-Driven World
Y2 - 21 February 2016 through 24 February 2016
ER -