Authors: Yapeng Wanga, Zhongan Jianga, Jiuzhu Wanga, Dengfeng Zhenga, Jihe Chena, Bin Yangb, Ming Wangc
a School of Civil and Resources Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, PR China
b China Academy of Safety Science and Technology, 17 Huixin West St, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100083, PR China
b School of Safety Engineering, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Hebei Yanjiao High-tech Industrial Development Zone, Hebei, 065201, PR China
Source: This paper was published in Journal of Cleaner Production.
Abstract: In addition to dust pollution of the environment, during the unloading process of the multi-level high ore pass, it also causes problems such as ore pass wall wearing and noise pollution. The dust pollution is harmful to the health of employees, which captures people’s attention. To grasp the diffusion law of the unloading dust in the ore pass and reduce the amount of dust discharged, the computational particle fluid dynamics (CPFD) software and similarity experiments were used to study the dust generation and diffusion principle under different unloading conditions. According to the results of the numerical simulations and similarity experiments: when the unloading flow rate is 1.0 kg/s, the dust production and wind speed at the ore pass mouth is the largest, and the maximum wind speed is 2.64 times the dust diffusion speed. The amount of dust generated during the falling of the ore accounts for 78% of the total dust production, and the secondary dust production after the ore falls into the mine bunker accounts for 22%. In the first level unloading, the third and fourth level are the main dust-producing points; the overall wind speed at the main dust-producing point first increases and then decreases, with the increase of the unloading flow. The wind speed and dust generated by unloading are inversely proportional to the change of ore particle size and proportional to the change of unloading height. It is possible to control the dust pollution of the ore pass, to a certain extent, by controlling the unloading flow, reducing the unloading height and increasing the ore particle size.