Porosity model and air leakage flow field simulation of goaf based on DEM-CFD

The air leakage in goaf can easily lead to disasters such as spontaneous combustion process of residual coal and gas accumulation, threatening production safety in underground coal mines. In order to study and master air leakage flow field distribution in goaf, the particle flow numerical simulation software PFC^3D is used for the simulation of the collapse of overlying rock strata with the actual situation of the 3308 working face of Liangbaosi Coal Mine in China taken as an example. The quantitative porosity data of goaf are extracted and imported into FLUENT to simulate the air leakage flow field in goaf. The results show that (1) the porosity in the central part and near the working face of goaf is relatively large. With the increase of the length of goaf, the porosity decreases, and with the increase of the height of goaf, the porosity in the two cross headings is first larger than that in the central part and then smaller than that in the central part. (2) The data of air flow along the dip direction of working face obtained through the CFD numerical simulation is consistent with the actual measurement results basically, which validate the simulation. (3) The main air leakage occurs in the range of 0–10 m along the dip direction of working face. In the case of relatively large air supply rate, the residual coal spontaneous combustion area in goaf is far from the working face and the spontaneous combustion area becomes relatively large, resulting in increased risk.