The Virginia Tech mining and minerals engineering department has received a $1.24 million, five-year contract by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to study the effects of roof falls, bumps, or explosions on underground mine ventilation systems.
Kray Luxbacher, an assistant professor with the College of Engineering's mining department (http://www.mining.vt.edu/), is serving as principal investigator of the study. She will be supported by fellow faculty members Saad Ragab, a professor in the department of engineering sciences and mechanics, and Robert Boggess, research associate, and Harold McNair, professor emeritus of chemistry in the College of Science's department of chemistry. They bring expertise in gas chromatography and computational fluid mechanics to this interdisciplinary project.
Titled "Development of a Method for the Remote Characterization of Underground Mine Ventilation Controls by Multiple Tracer Gases," the project will use gas tracers as a means of remotely ascertaining information about ventilation control systems following a mine collapse or explosion.
"This project has the potential to provide insight into the status of a mine ventilation system following a serious incident, when information is limited and decisions impacting the safety of mine rescue personnel and miners must be made," said Luxbacher.
Utilizing scaled models and real working mines, the study will allow for the rapid collection tracer gas profiles under normal operating conditions, as well as a simulated emergency, in an underground coal mine. It is hope that the new process, using computational fluid mechanics, can determine the state of ventilation controls, including the nature and general location of damage, by comparing collected and simulated tracer gas profiles.