Aerological Factors Favouring the Occurrence of Endogenous Fires on Coal Waste Stockpiles

Abstract

Coal waste stockpiles – as artificial formations being a result of the exploitation of underground coal deposits – are constantly influenced by external factors, such as rock mass movements affecting the stability of the stockpile body and changing weather conditions, leading to a cycle of aerological phenomena which intensify the self-heating of the deposited material. Together with the occurrence of external factors, the stored material is also characterised by a set of internal features (also called genetic) that have a direct impact on the kinetics of the self-heating reaction. The paper focuses mainly on the issue of external factors such as the inclination angle of the stockpile, erosion of the slopes and thermal insulation of the layers of the stored material, which affect the phenomenon of self-heating of the material. Studies of impact of these factors on the thermal stability of coal waste stockpiles are important in the aspect of secondary exploitation of the stockpiles as well as during their reclamation or revitalisation. The numerical solutions presented in the paper should be treated as guidelines that define the directions of analysis for specific cases.