Aerodynamic Processes in Extra-Long Wall Coal Mining Using Shearers with Jet Fans

The articles describes the studies of influence exerted by operation of a jet fan installed on a shearer on air drag and on methane and coal dust concentrations in a longwall. The investigation used ANSYS Fluent and field data from coal mines in Kuzbass. The object of study was dust and gas/air mixtures in extra-long panels with a length of 400 m and at mineable coal seam thickness of 2.4 and 3.7 m. It is found that jet fans can decrease air drag in such longwalls by 35%, which enables decreasing the air feed in the longwall by 24% without increasing the main fan capacity. The air flow generated by a jet fan eliminates dead methane–air zones nearby an operating shearer and decreases coal dust concentration at work places of shearer’s operators by 13.8–36.7%.