Mine safety assessment based on basic event importance: grey relational analysis and bow tie model

Area of Science:

• Mining Engineering
• Risk Assessment
• Geotechnical Engineering

Background:

• Coal and gas outbursts pose significant safety risks in mining operations.
• Effective safety assessments are vital for preventing catastrophic accidents.
• Existing methods may not fully capture the complex interdependencies of basic events leading to outbursts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel safety assessment technique for coal and gas outburst accident prevention.
• To integrate fault tree analysis, grey relational analysis, and the bow tie model into a unified framework.
• To enhance the identification and ranking of critical basic events contributing to outbursts.

Main Methods:

• Fault tree analysis was used to determine minimal cut and path sets for outburst accidents.
• Grey relational analysis was applied to generate composite importance for basic events.
• Bow tie model analysis was employed to identify the most critical basic event and define safety measures.

Main Results:

• A new composite importance ranking for basic events was established, differing from traditional methods.
• The low permeability coefficient was identified as a critical basic event through bow tie analysis.
• Feasibility and effectiveness were validated using a case study of an actual coal and gas outburst accident.

Conclusions:

• The proposed integrated method offers a more comprehensive approach to safety assessment in coal mining.
• Identifying critical basic events and implementing targeted safety measures can effectively mitigate outburst risks.
• This technique provides a valuable tool for enhancing mine safety and preventing accidents.