Mining Science and Technology, 2 (1985) 91-104 91 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF MECHANICAL SCREEN DUST SUPPRESSORS A.J. Johnston Department of Civil and Systems Engineering, James Coo/< University of North Queensland, Townsville, Queensland (Australia) and N.I. Aziz Department of Civil and Mining Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales (Australia) (Received May, 1984; accepted September 13, 1984) ABSTRACT Dust in mining environments must be consid- ered from the viewpoint of its contribution both to explosions and to the respiratory health of mine personnel One method of reducing dust levels is the installation of mechanical screens across the full cross-section of a roadway. Using an industrial wind tunnel in which experimental conditions could be carefully controlled and monitored, a series of tests was completed to identify the operational characteristics of six types of screens which were thought to be of practical use. These tests included," the evalua- tion of the pressure drop characteristics of the various screens for different air flowrates, the effect on these characteristics of stone dust, the effectiveness of cleaning the contaminated screens and, finally, the determination of the screens" efficiency in suppressing stone and coal dust. The final set of tests required the develop- ment of a seeding system for the wind tunnel and the use of personal dust samplers to mea- sure both the total and respirable components of dust on either side of the screen. This paper provides details of these tests and the conclu- sions which were drawn from the results'. INTRODUCTION Dust is an inherent part of most mining operations and is associated with explosions and health hazards. These hazards are not confined to carboniferous substances such as coal but are also important where aluminium, silicon or even bronze is in a pulverised state. 0167-9031/85/$03.30 © 1985 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.