Evaluation of infrared heat loss of dust-polluted surface atmosphere for solar energy utilization in mine area

As an auxiliary energy, utilization of solar energy is an essential power supply for mining in remote and desert area with lack of water resources. Considering the strong attenuation effect of dust particles produced by mining on radiation transfer, a numerical study is carried out on the solar infrared heat loss in near-surface and dust-polluted atmosphere by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method, Mie scattering and heat flux method. Through the simulations, the spectral transmittance of dust particles and equivalent solar radiance of near-surface atmosphere within 1–2.5 μm waveband under different conditions were obtained and analyzed. The comparison results show that: (a) the transmittance loss of dust particles is obviously decreased with increase of wind speed and sand particles' proportion among hybrid particles. Meanwhile, the transmittance of dust particles increases when the solar altitude grows up; (b) the equivalent solar radiance within 1–2.5 μm through the dust-polluted atmosphere is significantly enhanced with these factors increasing.