Experimental investigation of temperature distribution and spontaneous combustion tendency of coal gangue stockpiles in storage

In this study, an experimental model about the coal gangue stockpiles in semi-open storage was developed. According to the model’s requirements, the corresponding coal gangues were piled up in the factory building, the heat source and collection points were arranged, and the four operating temperatures were selected from 70 to 350 °C for heating. A series of fire experiments concerning the temperature distributions of the coal gangue piles were conducted systematically. The spontaneous combustion tendency of coal gangue samples under kinds of the four heat sources was analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermal gravity analysis, and differential thermal gravity (TG-DTG). Under the action of thermal damage, the surface of micropores in coal gangue becomes rough. Heat accumulation is, in nature, most likely to occur near 0.1~0.4 m away from the heat source of coal pile. Simultaneously, on each of the measured flat layers, the greater the horizontal distance from the heat source is, the lower the heated temperature of gangues is, and the lower the temperature change rate is, indicating that the horizontal heat conduction is also gradually weakened. The experimental model provides an empirical basis for studying the distribution of temperature field in the depth of gangue pile and kinetics reaction mechanism of spontaneous combustion.