A mine ventilation management and firefighting decision support system

This paper introduces the basic structure and the main functions of the Mine Ventilation Management and Firefighting Decision Support System (MineDSS) which was developed by the authors. The module of dynamic ventilation network management in the MineDSS has realized the synchronous editing of ventilation diagrams on computer screens and the parameters of the ventilation network in data base. Many new algorithms and methods are used in modules of decision making of firefighting such as in mine fire computer simulation, selecting the optimum escape routes and suggesting measures for mine fire control etc. Thus the results obtained from the new models are more realistic. The MineDSS has been successfully applied to some coal mines in China.