CFD simulation of methane circulation dynamics in a ventilation installation's tubing

¹ National Institute for Research and Development in Mine Safety and Protection to Explosion – INSEMEX, 32-34 G-ral Vasile Milea Street, Petroșani, Hunedoara, Romania
² University of Petrosani – 20, University Street, Petroșani, Hunedoara, Romania

¹ Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: ion.gherghe@insemex.ro
² Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: gabriel.ilcea@upet.ro

Abstract

Reducing the risk of occurrence of phenomena such as explosions, as a result of the untimely penetration of a certain amount of explosive gases, inside a ventilation installation, is a priority, regarding the health and safety of workers, material assets and the negative influence on the environment, due to the possible problems caused by the occurrence of explosive atmospheres, formed by mixing air with gases, vapors, mists and combustible dusts. The main measure to prevent explosive atmospheres is to provide adequate ventilation in closed or semi-closed industrial and non-industrial premises. In order to avoid dangerous situations at the level of poorly ventilated ventilation installations where explosive atmospheres can occur, it is necessary to know the behavior of explosive gases as well as their dispersion method. CFD technique was used to study the dynamics of methane circulation inside the piping of a ventilation installation with the help of the ANSYS MULTIPHISICS software package. The paper presents the CFD analysis regarding the influence of the state parameters on the methane flow dynamics inside the ventilation systems. Thus, the state parameters determined in the experimentation area and their introduction into CFD modeling are presented, namely the establishment of the methane flow and dispersion model in ventilation ducts with high complexity.