LECTURE 4

THE CONTENTS OF THIS LECTURE ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1.0 INTRODUCTION
2.0 SOURCES OF HEAT IN MINES
3.0 STRATA HEAT
3.1 Geothermal Step and Geothermal Gradient
3.2 Thermal Conductivity of Rocks
3.3 Heat Flux
3.4 Virgin Rock Temperature
3.5 Fouriers Law
3.6 Factors determining Strata Heat Flow in Mines
3.6.1 Primary Factors
3.6.2 Secondary Factors

REFERENCES

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
Human beings are capable of working efficiently within a certain range of
temperatures. Temperature is concerned with degree of hotness. Temperature of a
substance or body is liable to change when we have a source of heat. Heat always
flow from high temperature to low temperature body. This flow can take place in
any one of the three ways of transferring heat- conduction, convection and
radiation (Fig.1). These modes of transferring heat mainly cause flow of sensible
heat. Through evaporation, transfer of latent heat takes place. In this case, we do
not sense the rise in temperature, but heat content of the body is increased. In
underground mines, there are many sources of heat which cause rise of
temperature of air during its travel in mine airways. The condition may worsen if
the temperature of the air increases beyond a certain limit. The situation becomes
more critical especially when humidity of air also increases simultaneously. In such
situation, we require air conditioning of mine air. We have to set up refrigeration
plants, spot coolers, etc. so as to ensure comfort, safety and high working
efficiency of workers in mines. On the other hand, in areas with extreme cold
climatic conditions, we need to supply heat to the air on the surface before sending
it to underground mines.
2.0 SOURCES OF HEAT IN MINES
There are various sources of heat in underground mines. Some are major
contributors of heat addition to air and some are minor. Some of them are
unavoidable, while some of them require utilization of proper techniques for their
reduced effect. Fig.2 shows the various sources of heat in mines.
The major sources of heat in underground mines are:
o

Strata heat

Auto-compression

Machinery and lights

Underground water

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Fig.1 Types of heat transfer in mines (after Vutukuri and Lama, 1986)
The minor sources of heat in mines include
o

Human metabolism

Oxidation

Blasting

Rock movement

Pipelines

Energy losses in airflow

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Energy
losses in
air flow

Strata Heat

Autocompr
ession

Pipelines

Machinery
and lights

Sources
of heat
Rock
movement

Human
metabolis
m

Blasting

0xidation

Fig.2 Sources of heat in mines

3.0 STRATA HEAT

Strata heat is a major source of heat underground mines. In some cases especially
in deep mines, it becomes intolerable and we require installation of refrigeration
systems so as to provide safe and comfortable working conditions. The term strata
heat means the heat emitted from the surrounding rocks and getting added to the
mine atmosphere. Subsurface rocks mainly have their heat reservoirs in the core
portion of the earth, which emits heat and that heat gets transferred to the upper
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part of the earth like mantle and crust. In crust part of the earth, mining is
practiced. Thus, whenever we go for subsurface mining, strata heat is a major
factor that has to be considered while planning ventilation system so as to create
comfortable working conditions.

3.1 Geothermal Step and Geothermal Gradient

The term geo means earth, thermal means heat and gradient means change in a
particular quantity with respect to distance. Thus, we can define geothermal
gradient as the change of heat/temperature of subsurface rocks with respect to
distance. In general, temperature of the subsurface rocks increases with depth.
The increasing trend with depth is because of the core part of the earth which gets
nearer and nearer as we go down, Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Different layers of earth with depth

In mining, we generally make use of the term geothermal step, which is defined as
the depth per degree centigrade rise in temperature. If we look carefully, we can
easily make out that, geothermal step is inverse of geothermal gradient. Let us
have a look at their units.
=
and
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= Change in temperature ()
= Change in depth (m)
Both geothermal step as well as geothermal gradient may vary from place to place
depending upon the types of the rocks found in the area, thermal properties of the
rock, presence of underground water reservoirs, etc. It is also greatly influenced by
the age of the rock, and igneous activities going in the region. At around 15 m
depth from the earth surface, temperature is constant, as at this depth, there will
be no significant variation of temperature with the change in the climatic conditions
observed on the surface of the earth. After approximately 15 m, it starts showing a
uniform increase in the temperature with depth at a particular place. Table 1 gives
a brief idea about the variation of geothermic gradient in different mine districts of
the world
Table 1 Values of geothermic gradient in various mines (after Banerjee,
2003 & Hartman et al, 1982)
Location
Jharia coalfield, India, coal measure rocks
Raniganj coalfields , India, coal measure rocks
Singareni coalfields, India, coal measure rocks
Kolar Gold Fields, India
Mosabani copper mine, India
South African gold mines
Coal mines, UK
Mount Isa mines, Australia
Magma copper, Arizona
Agnew nickel , Australia

3.2 Thermal Conductivity of Rocks

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Geothermic gradient (m/)

17.2-39
38.4
30
91.1
50-54.8
96
25-55
50.8
26.8
76.8

Thermal conductivity of a rock () is defined as the heat flow across a surface per
unit area per unit time when a particular temperature difference exists in a unit
length perpendicular to the surface. It depends on following factors:a. Chemical composition of the rocks (rocks are aggregates of minerals)
b. Water content of the rock
c. Temperature
d. Pressure
e. Radioactive decay (if any) etc.
Thermal conductivity has units of W/(m)
3.3 Heat Flux
It is defined as the heat rate (J/s) per unit area, the direction of heat flux is in the
direction of negative temperature gradient. The earths heat flux ranges from 0.04 0.06 W/m2. We take average value as 0.05 W/m2 for calculation purpose.

3.4 Virgin Rock Temperature

It is also called as the natural rock temperature. The temperature of a rock at a
particular depth below earths surface because of the geothermal energy stored in it
is called virgin rock temperature. It is determined by borehole technique with an
accuracy of 1.5. It is a very important factor in determining the heat flow from
the strata to a mine airways.

3.5 FOURIERS Law

It is also called Fouriers law of conduction of heat. The law states:
The rate of heat transfer through a material medium is proportional to the negative
of temperature gradient and area of the medium.
Mathematically, it can be explained as
()

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Therefore, we can write

=
Where,
= heat transfer rate (W or J/s)
= thermal conductivity of the material (W/(m))
= area of the material (m2)

= temperature/thermal gradient (/m)

-ve sign indicates reduction of temperature in the direction of heat flow.

Using Fouriers law, if we know the thermal conductivity of rock and heat flux at a
particular place, we can easily calculate geothermal gradient at that place. It is
important to mention that it is a very difficult task to exactly determine the thermal
conductivity of rocks. The reason being, the conductivity of a rock obtained in the
laboratory test are likely to differ from the actual conductivity of rocks in the field.
This is because, conductivity varies with pressure at a particular depth, directional
nature of mineral contents, presence of any fluid, etc. Further, determination of
heat flux of strata in the mine is also a cumbersome task as it involves a large
number of variables (discussed in detail latter).
3.6 Factors Determining Strata Heat Flow in Mines
Heat flow into mine airways from the strata is very complex in nature. It involves a
large number of variables/factors that significantly influences the rate of heat flow.
These variables may be classified into two broad categories i.e., primary factors
and secondary factors.
3.6.1 Primary factors
o
o
o
o
o

Geothermic gradient
Thermal properties of rock like thermal conductivity, thermal capacity
Difference between virgin rock temperature (VRT) and dry bulb temperature
Length of the mine airways
Humidity and pressure

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Rate of mineral production

3.6.2 Secondary factors

o
o
o
o
o
o

Roughness of rock surface

Shape and size of airway
Air Volume flow
Nature of air-rock interface
Inclination of airway
Age of the airway

There are many other factors like design and layout of air conditioning, cooling
plant, etc. which too play a vital role in strata heat flow to the underground mine
environment.
Besides a large number of factors involved, the determination of heat flow from
strata

is

done

empirically.

Analytical

approach

involves

concept

of

three

dimensional, time transient heat conduction (McPherson, 1993).

REFERENCES
Banerjee S.P. (2003); Mine Ventilation; Lovely Prakashan, Dhanbad, India.
Hartman, H. L., Mutmansky, J. M. & Wang, Y. J. (1982); Mine Ventilation and Air
Conditioning; John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Le Roux, W. L. (1972); Mine Ventilation Notes for Beginners; The Mine Ventilation
Society of South Africa.
McPherson, M. J. (1993); Subsurface Ventilation and Environmental Engineering;
Chapman & Hall, London.
Misra G.B.

(1986); Mine Environment and Ventilation; Oxford University Press,

Calcutta, India.
Vutukuri, V. S. & Lama, R. D. (1986); Environmental Engineering in Mines;
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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