Influence of Environmental Parameters on Workers’ Dust Inhalation in Underground Mines

Much dust is generated in coal mining underground work processes, posing threats to workers’ health and safety production. Dust enters the human body mainly through inhalation, which is primarily determined by the dust concentration around workers. In this study, the airflow field and dust distribution in the tunnel are simulated by Fluent software. The breathing zone for a worker was defined to clarify the extent of external dust distribution influencing dust inhalation. The effects of human respiration, dust production rates, air supply velocities, and workers’ positions on dust concentration in the breathing zone were investigated. The results show that there is upward airflow around the worker standing in the center of the air circulation. Human inhalation and exhalation barely influence the airflow distribution and respirable dust concentrations in the breathing zone. Reducing the dust production rate in the tunnel can reduce the respirable dust concentration in the breathing zone by almost the same proportion. While increasing the air supply velocity by 50% would reduce only 20% dust in the breathing zone. The dust concentrations vary along the roadway, in which the low concentration zone is located in the middle, more than 1.0 m away from the dust-producing surface and the wind surface.