ABSTRACT
More accurate prediction of the effects of mine fires on ventilation systems has been of interest to the mining community since the development of computerised ventilation software. The deficiencies of traditional steady state simulation methods were highlighted during the investigation into the 1972 Sunshine Mine fire disaster which killed 91 people and prompted the research and development of the first transient network fire modelling code, now known as the MFIRE. As mine ventilation models grow in size and complexity, new methods of fire simulation to improve speed, stability, and ease of use, without sacrificing accuracy is considered a useful contribution to the mining industry to help design and manage safer mines. This paper highlights key technical points and outcomes in the development of a new independent fire simulator, which was integrated in Ventsim™ as the “VentFIRE” module in 2014. This paper presents unique methods of solving some of the challenges of simulating intense underground fires, including the simulation of fuel-rich or oxygen-rich fire regimes, thermal rock absorption and dissipation of fire heat and dynamic transport methods of heat and combustion products.
