Abstract:
At present, the commonly used extraction-type dust-removal system in mine tunneling roadways causes local air volume loss during operation, and the air-curtain generator suffers from air-distribution problems that affect the air supply at the tunneling face. To address the problems of dust control and airflow regulation at rock roadway tunneling faces, a linkage air-curtain dust-isolation device was developed based on the extraction-type dust-removal system, which enabled the purified airflow from the dust-removal system to directly form a dust-blocking air curtain. A crescent-shaped guide vane was installed at the bend of the air duct in the air-curtain dust-isolation device. Numerical simulations verified that this design reduced fluid velocity loss by 17.11%, thereby decreasing the local air volume loss caused by the operation of the dust-removal system. A resistance-calculation formula for the linkage air-curtain dust-isolation device of the extraction-type dust-removal system was derived to provide a basis for selecting dust-removal fans. A roadway geometric model, a fluid-motion mathematical model, and a discrete-phase model of dust particles were established to numerically simulate the flow field and dust-migration patterns in the tunneling roadway. The results showed that when the air-curtain dust-isolation device was positioned 6 m from the tunneling face, with a pressure-extraction ratio of 1∶1.1 and a gradually widened slit-shaped jet outlet, the dust concentration decreased from 4× 10
−5 kg/m
3 to 5 × 10
−6 kg/m
3 after passing through the air curtain, achieving a dust-reduction rate of 87.5%. The jet airflow was uniform and sufficient without mutual interference, confining high-concentration dust within a smaller space and preventing its diffusion.