Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Modelling of Diesel Particulate Matter in relation to Lung-Deposited Surface Area (LDSA) in Underground Tunnels

Abstract

Diesel-powered equipment remains a major source of respirable particulate exposure in underground mining, where limited dilution and mechanically driven airflow can create highly non-uniform pollutant fields.Conventional diesel particulate matter (DPM) assessment is commonly based on mass concentration or time-weighted sampling, which can miss the location-specific exposure experienced by workers near the face.This study develops a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) framework for mapping health-relevant DPM exposure in an auxiliary-ventilated underground tunnel by converting simulated passive-scalar concentrations into DPM and LDSA.LDSA is used because it better represents the particle surface area deposited in the respiratory tract, which is especially relevant for fine and ultrafine diesel aerosols [1]-[3].

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