Title: A preliminary study of the application of Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) for the qualitative imaging of methane emissions from coal

Authors: Edmund Jong; Kray Luxbacher

Addresses: Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering, Virginia Tech, 100 Holden Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0239, USA. ' Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering, Virginia Tech, 106 Holden Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0239, USA

Abstract: Methane presents a pervasive risk in most coal mines, its dilution being one of the primary objectives of the ventilation system. Although many different types of detectors and techniques exist for quantifying methane, little is known about the qualitative aspects of methane, such as visualising how this gas flows from coal. Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) provides a potential method from qualitative analysis of methane emissions. BOS is an imaging technique designed to visualise normally invisible flows in transparent media. This paper is a preliminary investigation of the feasibility of using the BOS technique for imaging methane release from coal.

Keywords: BOS; background oriented schlieren; underground coal mines; methane emissions; methane imaging; mining; gas flows; methane release.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMME.2011.042425

International Journal of Mining and Mineral Engineering, 2011 Vol.3 No.2, pp.95 - 108

Published online: 10 Sep 2011 *

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