Underground fires pose significant challenges to mine ventilation engineers. They produce fumes, smoke, and heat which ventilation systems distribute throughout mines. The fumes may be poisonous or explosive and the heat can change
ventilation system flows and transport fumes along unexpected routes or cause recirculation of contaminated air.
The MineFire software program helps ventilation engineers simulate fires, heat and contaminant flow, and natural ventilation to aid the design of safe, efficient mine ventilation systems. Based on the VNet platform, it assumes
steady state airflow conditions as a fire begins then predicts ventilation system responses to variations of fire intensity and subsequent changes in airflow distributions. This facilitates design of escape routes, fire detection
and warning systems, fire door locations, and other aspects of underground facility emergency plans. MineFire is also an invaluable training tool.
