Ventilation

Designing a Mine Auxiliary Ventilation System

Auxiliary Ventilation
Purpose

Auxiliary ventilation is designed to provide adequate ventilation to a dead-end entry or tunnel, to

remove or dilute hazardous gasses or dust, and to provide sufficient and clean air for individuals
and equipment to work efficiently.

Considerations:

Quantity Air velocity in the entry or tunnel

of air required Air quantity for diesel equipment
Air quantity for people
Air quantity to dilute or remove gasses and dust
Air quantity for cooling or other needs

Physical Head room over haulage or material transport equipment

Constraints Length of duct
Handling and hanging problems
Potential for damage from blasting and other activities

Other Duct and fans must be sized to ensure that the fans
considerations are not working in a stall (i.e., the fan is attempting to
move more air than the duct will allow)
A larger duct allows for a more efficient and lower
horsepower system
Legal and contract requirements for fans and duct
Preferred direction of airflow - suction or blowing
Most leakage occurs at the joints and longer lengths have
significantly less leakage
Evaluate the Different Types of Duct
Steel  Lowest initial-cost suction duct
 Required on some projects
 Holds high positive and negative Best suited for:
pressure Moderate length ventilation runs
 Medium leakage (less than 3,000 ft.)
 Non-flammable Drill and shoot operations
Single use applications

Fiberglass  Most durable suction duct

 Holds up well to abuse
 Holds high positive and negative
Best suited for:
pressure
Short-length ventilation runs
 Low friction factor
(less than 1,500 ft.)
 Flame resistant
Multiple reuse operations
 Light-weight
Drill and shoot operations

Flexible Suction  Flame resistant

 Can expand and contract length
 Weight dependent on negative Best suited for:
pressure rating Starter tunnels
 Can be stored in small area Short ventilation runs
Flexible connections in other
type of duct

Lay flat  Low cost

 Flame resistant
 Low leakage in long lengths
 Pressure rating dependent on Best suited for:
material, construction Short ventilation runs using
 Requires additional fan for low cost duct
reversing air flow on OSHA jobs Long ventilation runs using
 Medium friction factor high-quality long-length
 Many grades available ducts
 Requires special expertise in
applications for booster fans
Calculating Losses
Dynamic Losses
The pressure loss in each fitting, inlet and outlet must be calculated separately and is
based on the velocity pressure of air at that point in the system.

Velocity pressure Pv =

Friction Losses
Friction loss curves, which are provided in this brochure, are designed to give the
pressure loss due to friction in the duct. The curves are based on the following formula:

For all equations, the definitions are:

AH = pressure loss in in. w.g. A = area of duct in square feet

C = loss coefficient K = the friction factor for the
V = air velocity in feet/minute material
L = length in feet (Fiberglass duct is 11.7;
O = perimeter in feet Steel duct is 12;
Q = air quantity in 100,000 cfm Cassette duct is 15;
(60,000 cfm would be .60) Lay flat duct is 18;
P = air density (.075 for standard air) in lb/ft3 Flexible suction duct is 27)
Loss coefficients for area changes
Type Illustration Conditions Loss Coefficient
C2
Gradual 30°              0.02 
Contraction     45°               0.04 
    60°                                                  0.07

A1 = A2 C
Equal Area ≤ 14o 0.15
Transformation

C
Flanged A=∞ 0.34
Entrance

Duct Entrance C
A=∞ 0.85

C
Formed Entrance A=∞ 0.03

C1

5o 0.17
Gradual 7o 0.22
Expansion 10o 0.28
20o 0.45
30o 0.59
40o 0.73

Abrupt Exit A2 = ∞
A1/A2 = 0.0 1.00

Note: A”c” with subscript indicates the cross-section at which velocity is calculated.

Loss coefficients for elbows

Type Illustration Conditions Loss Coefficient
Pressure Loss L/D Ratio

Rectangular or round, with (N/90) times value for

No or without vanes similar 90o elbow

Miter Miter
R/D = 0.5 R/D = 0.5
90O 0.75 0.75
1.0 1.0
Round Section 1.5 1.5
2.0 2.0
Reading fan curves and resistance charts
How to use the friction curves ducting loss– 16”, fan loss– normally –1”,
To determine the friction loss, find fittings loss= .5” each and duct inlet/exit
the average air quality in the duct (air at loss normally-1”.
heading + 1/2 leakage), follow the line up
to your duct diameter and read across to
determine the static pressure drop per 100
feet. Multiply this number by the length of
the duct to obtain the friction losses.
For and oval duct, use the hydraulic
diameter formula to calculate the equiva-
lent round diameter:
DH =

For example:
An application requires 28,000 cfm at the
heading. We have 2,000 feet of 36” fiber-
glass duct and 4,000 cfm of leakage. The
average air quantity in the duct is 30,000
cfm. This gives us a friction loss of .8 in
w.g./100 feet or 16” total. To calculate the
total system static pressure loss, add the

How to use the fan curve

Read across at the total pressure,
then up from the quantity to determine if the
intersection point falls on or under the fan
curve.
To obtain the total pressure require-
ment for the fan, add the friction losses,
dynamic losses and one velocity pressure
to obtain the total pressure in the system.
In the above example, if we also have
16” friction loss, 8” of dynamic losses and
1.25” velocity pressure, we would have a
total pressure loss of 25.25” and a fan
quantity of 32,000 cfm. Therefore, by using
a fan chart we can see that a 21 x 100 HP
33” fan will meet the requirements.
Velocity Pressures VEL. VP VEL. VP VEL. VP
FPM In. Water FPM In. Water FPM In. Water
500 0.016 1800 0.202 4400 1.21
600 0.022 2000 0.249 4600 1.32
700 0.031 2200 0.302 4800 1.44
800 0.404 2400 0.359 5000 1.56
900 0.05 2600 0.421 5200 1.69
1000 0.062 2800 0.489 5400 1.82
1100 0.075 3000 0.561 5600 1.96
1200 0.09 3200 0.638 5800 2.1
1300 0.105 3400 0.721 6000 2.24
1400 0.122 3600 0.808 6200 2.4
1500 0.14 3800 0.9 5400 2.55
1600 0.16 4000 0.998 6600 2.72
1700 0.18 4200 1.1 6800 2.88

Conversion QUANTITY STANDARD STANDARD STANDARD OTHER UNITS

Factors UNITS ENGLISH UNITS

in. wg
METRIC (SI) UNITS
pscals psi
inwg 1 248.36 0.03602
pascals 0.00103 1 0.00015
PRESSURE psi 27.761 6894.7 1
inHg 13.635 3386.4 0.49116
mm WG 0.03937 9.7779 0.00142
MM Hg 0.53681 133.32 0.01934
Bar 407.98 101325 14.696
cfm m3/s m3/min
VOLUME Cfm 1 0.00472 0.02832
FLOW M3/s 2118.9 1 60
M3/min 35.314 0.01337 1
ft/min m/s m/min
Ft/min 1 0.00508 0.3048
M/s 196.85 1 60
VOLCITY M/min 3.2808 0.01667 1
Kph 0.05468 0.00028 0.01667
Mph 88 0.44704 26.822
Knots 101.34 0.51479 30.887
Air density at ALTITUDE ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE IN DEGRES FAHRENHEIT
different altitudes PRESSURE -20 0 20 40 60 80 100

and temperatures -1000

0
31.02
29.92
0.0936
0.0903
0.0886
0.0854
0.0858
0.0827
0.0824 0.0792 0.0762 0.0735
0.0794 0.0764 0.0735 0.0709
1000 28.86 0.0871 0.824 0.0798 0.0766 0.0736 0.0709 0.0684
2000 27.82 0.0839 0.0794 0.0769 0.0738 0.071 0.0684 0.066
3000 26.81 0.0808 0.0765 0.0741 0.0712 0.0684 0.0659 0.066
4000 25.84 0.0779 0.0738 0.0715 0.0686 0.066 0.0635 0.0635
5000 24.89 0.0751 0.071 0.0688 0.0661 0.0635 0.0611 0.0612
6000 23.98 0.0723 0.0684 0.0663 0.0636 612 0.0589 0.0569
7000 23.09 0.0697 0.0659 0.0639 0.0613 0.0589 0.0546 0.0526
8000 22.22 0.0671 0.0634 0.0614 0.059 0.0567 0.0546 0.0526
9000 21.38 0.0644 0.061 0.0591 0.0568 0.0546 0.0525 0.0506
10000 20.58 0.062 0.0587 0.0569 0.0546 0.0525 0.0495 0.0488
Steel Duct Friction Loss Chart
Fiberglass Duct Friction Loss Chart
Flexible Suction Duct Friction Loss Chart (Spiral)
Flexible Forced Duct Friction Loss Chart (Lay Flat)
Over half a century of worldwide engineering experience goes into manufacturing a
complete line of integrated products designed for all types of ventilation projects.

Ventilation Products

Flexible Ventilation
Lay Flat, spiral, forced, exhaust, shaft, dispersion, cassettes and fittings

Fiberglass Ventilation
Round, oval, forced, exhaust, fittings and accessories

Steel Ventilation
18 & 20 gauge, corrugated & smooth, fittings and coupling bands

Fans & Fan Silencers

Axial flow, permissible, accessories and center pod silencers

Dust Collectors

Brattice
Plain rolls, curtains, fly pads, pogo sticks, special products

Inflatable Stoppings

2233 Sanford Drive 188 Van Kirk Drive #4

Grand Junction, CO 81505 Fairmont, WV 26554
U.S.A. U.S.A.

T (970) 245-9400 T (304) 363-0868

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[email protected] www.schauenburg.us