Methods to determine the mine gas explosibility – An overview

Study of the destruction of ventilation systems in coal mines due to gas explosions

“…List of coal mine disasters due to gas explosions in the U.S. from 2001 to 2010. (Cheng et al, 2012) No A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T…”

“…However, extensive data indicated that the irregular smoke plume that still exists after the ventilation system was damaged can result in up to 70% of the casualties. A gas explosion shock wave can destroy the surrounding structures of the ventilation system and lead to large numbers of casualties (Cheng et al, 2012;Cammarota et al, 2010;Razus, et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2012). The explosion flame can ignite combustible materials in the vicinity of the ventilation system, resulting in a larger scale fire.…”

A thermal theory for flammability diagrams guiding purge and inertion of a flammable mixture

“…The above process can be demonstrated graphically in Figure 3. Problem #04 [4]. A sample taken from a sealed area yields the mixture composition as follows: CH 4 5 10%, CO 5 5%, N 2 5 75%, O 2 5 10%.…”

“…Without a systematic theory to predict the flammability diagram, empirical constants are widely used to reconstruct the flammability diagram from other measurements, such as minimum oxygen concentration [3]. Cheng et al [4] reviewed six methods to determine the mine gas explosibility, all relying on either direct measurement or extrapolation in reconstructing the explosibility diagram.…”

Flammable state and dilution requirement in the theoretical flammability diagram

“…According to Cheng et al . , there are six other graphical methods for determining explosibility for mine atmosphere, Tertiary diagram (or Zabetakis diagram), Revised Le Chatelier's method, Maximum Allowable Oxygen (MAO) analysis, USBM method, Coward Explosive Triangle and Kukuczka Method. However, each method has its limitations, plus some experimentally determined or empirically determined constants.…”