Modeling of heat and mass transfer processes in deep mine workings under conditions of partial wall insulation

Abstract

We investigate the influence of different insulation regimes (full insulation, partial insulation, and no insulation) on heat and mass transfer processes in deep mine workings. A steady-state conjugate heat and mass transfer problem was solved in ANSYS Fluent for a turbulent airflow and the surrounding rock mass, with turbulence modeled using the SST k-ω approach. Thermal interaction between the air and the wall surface was specified at the inner boundary; domains of varying rock thickness were considered to simulate different stages of mine working operation and the growth of the thermal influence zone. The results show that partial insulation without floor coverage reduces the heat transfer coefficient by 64 % compared with the uninsulated case, while the difference between full and partial insulation decreases to 14 % over time. It is also shown that reliable estimation of the effective heat transfer coefficient requires considering a working length of about 500 m (≈100 cross-sectional dimensions). The findings are useful in designing thermal control measures for deep mine workings.