Modeling the influence of the angle of working on the propagation and stratification of combustion products during a fire in a coal mine

The study focuses on the influence exerted by the longitudinal slope of a mine roadway on gas dynamics of combustion products during underground fires. The aim of the study is the evaluation of change in the kinematics of heat and gas fronts, as well as in the parameters of vertical stratification of air in sloped roadways. The study used Fire Dynamics Simulator to model a fire scenario at a peak rate of heat generation of 3 MW and at a ventilation airflow velocity of 1.5 m/s. Within the scope of the study, the mesh sensitivity was assessed, and the discretization parameters to balance precision and cost of computation were selected. The parametric analysis revealed the nonlinear pattern of interaction between the ventilation draft and thermogravitational convection in a range of the slope angles from –20° to +20°. A pronounced kinematic asymmetry is detected in the process being analyzed: a negative slope during downcurrent leads to a slow-down of front of hazardous factors (to 11% at the slope of –20°), while a positive slope produces a moderate acceleration effect within 3–4%. Furthermore, the effect of divergency is determined in stratification, when the maximum of the vertical temperature nonuniformity is attained at the angle of +5° and the maximum of the carbon dioxide concentration–at –5°. It is shown that at high negative slopes (–20°), the temperature stratification drops.

Fedotkin I. O., Skopintseva O. V., Balovtsev S. V. Modeling the influence of the angle of working on the propagation and stratification of combustion products during a fire in a coal mine. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2026;(4):169-180. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2026_4_0_169.

I.O. Fedotkin¹, Graduate Student, e-mail: fedotkin.iliya@gmail.com, ORCID ID: 0009-0004-2399-480X,
O.V. Skopintseva¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, Professor, e-mail: skopintseva54@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7257-8720,
S.V. Balovtsev¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, Professor, e-mail: balovcev@yandex.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0961-6050,
¹ University of Science and Technology MISIS, 119049, Moscow, Russia.

I.O. Fedotkin, e-mail: fedotkin.iliya@gmail.com.

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