Numerical simulation of the effect of air-intake on the indoor flow field of a dedusting equipment cabin used in tunnel construction.

There is a significant amount of dust during tunnel construction. As a comprehensive prevention method for tunnel dust, dust collector technology has been widely used in tunnel construction. The flow field distribution in a dedusting equipment cabin directly affects the treatment efficiency of tunnel dust. In this study, using a dedusting equipment compartment with 5 (in row) × 20 (in column) filter cartridges (FCs, diameter of 0.35 m) as the research object, the effects of air-intake mode, position, and other parameters on the airflow rate of FCs inside the cabin, and indoor air distribution characteristics were studied using a numerical calculation method, which was verified by an experiment. The results indicated that for the cabin with only an end air-intake, the length of the cabin cannot be too long, as this would cause a low airflow rate of the FCs located at the center of the cabin. Furthermore, the effects of setting a baffle and grille on the total airflow rate of the FCs inside the cabin with only an end air-intake was more significant than that with both an end air-intake and side air-intakes, the difference of the total airflow rate among them can be up to 59%. Setting a baffle at the end of an air-intake significantly reduced the total airflow rate of the FCs about 59%, which was significantly increased about 5% by setting grilles. Additionally, the side air-intakes improved the total airflow rate of the FCs more than the end air-intake by about 24%, but the intake efficiency of the former was lower than that of latter by about 61%. Finally, based on cabins with only an end air-intake, setting the side air-intakes on the cabin where the airflow rate of FCs is low, can significantly improve the total airflow rate of FCs in the cabin, particularly the FCs around the side air-intakes, the increase here can reach 36% compared with other locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]