CFD Characterization and Field Test Study on Plugging Air Leakage with Time-Varying Viscosity Solidified Foam to Prevent Coal Spontaneous Combustion

Abstract

From the perspective of plugging air leakage paths and preventing coal spontaneous combustion in the goaf of coal mines, filling and plugging the ends of the working face is crucial. Generally speaking, rapidly solidified foam slurry is beneficial to plugging air leakage paths. However, researchers have not yet clarified the accumulation and diffusion rules of rapidly solidified foam, resulting in low efficiency in plugging air leakage paths. To solve the above problems, this study takes the goaf of 1301 working faces of the Shandong Lilou Coal Industry as the research object, uses the computational fluid dynamics modeling method to construct a physical model of pressure injection foam slurry, and optimizes the on-site application process parameters of plugging the end of the working face. The numerical simulation results show that coagulant can improve the accumulation characteristics and plugging efficiency of foam slurry, and the optimal addition amount is 3 wt%. In addition, as the perfusion flow increases from 5 to 15 m3/h, the airflow rates on the working face gradually increases and the oxidation zone gradually shrinks. Therefore, the grouting flow is preferably 15 m3/h. Field test results show that rapid-setting inorganic solidified foam blocks the airflow at the air inlet corner from leaking into the goaf and weakens the composite reaction of coal and oxygen. The temperature at each monitoring point first decreased, then stabilized, and the final temperature was maintained at 27-28°C. The CO concentration gradually decreased and finally remained below 20 ppm. The CO concentration of the mine’s total return airflow is stable below 10 ppm. This study can provide theoretical guidance for the technological design of using solidified foam to rapidly plug the air leakage paths at the end of the fully mechanized caving working face.