THREE-DIMENSIONAL NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE MASS EXCHANGE BETWEEN LONGWALL HEADINGS AND GOAFS, IN THE PRESENCE OF METHANE DRAINAGE IN A U-TYPE VENTILATED LONGWALL

The phenomena related to the occurrence of methane in underground mines pose a considerable danger in the process of coal seam exploitation. Quite often, experimental analysis falls short of investigating their areas of origin (goafs area, affected rock mass, the tail gate area with abandoned excavation). Therefore, an invaluable tool for evaluating the risk involved in the exploitation process might be the numerical simulation of the phenomenon in question, carried out with the use of the latest CFD methods. Due to its application, we are able to recreate and predict the mechanism of the studied phenomenon, with certain assumptions and simplifications made. The present paper discusses the results of the numerical simulation of the process of mass exchange occurring between affected rock mass and longwall headings. The calculations were performed for two test cases - 100 meter long walls.