Study on the Optimization and Oxygen-Enrichment Effect of Ventilation Scheme in a Blind Heading of Plateau Mine

There are abundant mineral resources in plateau areas, but it is difficult to extract them safely because the problem of hypoxia in plateau mines seriously affects the life and health of workers. In order to address the problem of hypoxia in the blind heading of a plateau metal mine, a three-dimensional roadway model was established based on field data of the Pulang copper mine in Yunnan province, China. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method was used to explore the optimal type of oxygen supply duct outlet, and to reveal the oxygen diffusion law influencing different ventilation factors. Grey correlation analysis was used to study the correlation values of the ventilation factors on the oxygen-enrichment effect in blind headings, such as forcing duct position, exhausting duct position, and extraction pressure ratio. The results demonstrated that the oxygen-enrichment effect of a slit oxygen outlet was better than that of the traditional oxygen supply method. When the direction of the oxygen outlet hole was 30° and the height above the roadway floor was 1.95 m, the oxygen increase effect was better than other forms of oxygen supply duct outlets. Grey correlation analysis revealed that the major influencing factors of the oxygen-enrichment effect in the roadway of the plateau mine, were, in descending order, as follows: forcing duct position, extraction pressure ratio, and exhausting duct position. This study has a positive guiding significance for improving the respiration environment in blind headings of plateau mines.