PONE-D-22-08269Study on Coal Dust Diffusion Law and New Pneumatic Spiral Spray Dedusting Technology at Transfer Point of Mine Cross RoadwayPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. zhang,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Mohammad Mehdi Rashidi

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The subject of the research is the study of dust control device equipment proposed for the problem of dust pollution at the transfer point, which is based on the theory of a spiral spray device and is investigated using a finite element - dynamic mesh modelling method. The reliability of the simulation is adequately given in terms of the airflow flow and dust dispersion at the transfer point site. The solution of treating the transfer point with a dust cover is proposed, the wind flow field and particle trajectory at the simulated transfer point are studied to obtain the vortex distribution law, the dust cover is installed for the vortex location, and the internal wind flow and droplet distribution are simulated. The idea is relatively new, well argued and the data is reliable. I believe that the results of the study can provide an important reference for research on dust management at mine transfer points. However, the quality of the writing of the paper still needs to be improved, and I support the publication of this paper if these following issues are addressed (with minor modifications).

1. The inconsistency of proper names in Figure 1 suggests a correction.

2. Some references are not cited in the article and need to be added.

3. Some of the images have blurred text resulting in the information in the images not being read by the reader and affecting the overall nature of the article. For example, Figure 8, Figure 10.

4. The text has a large number of images applied to the wind flow field at the point of reproduction, it is recommended that the images be combined or selectively deleted.

5. Boundary conditions are very important for numerical simulations and different boundary conditions can affect the final results of the simulation, therefore boundary conditions should be specified. It is recommended to add dust source conditions and droplet atomisation conditions.

6. The authors' figure 12 reflects the spiral spray velocity field wind flow curve and is missing units. The dust hood is also a closed device and when spraying for a longer period of time there should be a build-up of droplets and wind flow at the bottom, whether the author's device has an opening should be clarified.

7. In the design of the treatment solution in paper 4.1, the authors demonstrate that the spray device is effective in capturing small particle size coal dust by measuring the droplet size with a spray laser particle size meter, the basis of which needs to be detailed.

8. Authors should use superscripts for numbers in m³ in their conclusions.

9. The description of the experimental section is too brief and does not indicate a clear method of experimentation.

Reviewer #2: In order to solve the problem of coal dust pollution at the conveying point, the manuscript adopts computational fluid dynamics (CFD) discrete particle model, finite element method and K- ε Based on the turbulence model, the three-dimensional air flow coal dust numerical model of the loading point of the underground rubber runway is established, and the coal dust diffusion pollution caused by the coal flow movement at the air flow intersection in the cross tunnel is studied. The influence mechanism of airflow and coal dust, the distribution of airflow and the characteristics of coal dust diffusion in the roadway are analyzed. A dust control and reduction system and a treatment scheme are put forward, which are based on the new pneumatic screw spray technology, so as to suppress the coal dust pollution at the refueling point. The field application shows that the developed dust cover can effectively prevent the diffusion of coal dust and improve the efficiency of coal dust pollution control, and has a good application prospect. The manuscript is rich in content and is worth revising and publishing. However, the manuscript still has the following problems.

1. Please compare the two groups of experiments in section 3.3.4 with charts.

2. Why is the wind speed at the lower part of the tunnel greater than that at the upper part?

3. What are the characteristics of wind speed distribution in different zonal areas in horizontal and vertical directions?

4. Put forward reasonable suggestions according to the numerical simulation results.

5. It is suggested that the findings of this study be discussed more in the summary.

6. There are insufficient references, so more references need to be supplemented. The background and mechanism of seepage are not introduced clearly. In particular, The failure and damage characteristics of rock should be further described. The author should introduce this mechanism.

Ecological risk assessment of soil and water loss by thermal enhanced methane recovery: Numerical study using two-phase flow simulation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2022, 334, 130183.

Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical modelling for geothermal doublet system with 3D fractal fracture. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2022, 200, 117716.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Jianwei Cheng

Reviewer #2: No

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PONE-D-22-08269R1Study on Coal Dust Diffusion Law and New Pneumatic Spiral Spray Dedusting Technology at Transfer Point of Mine Cross RoadwayPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. zhang,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jul 14 2022 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Mohammad Mehdi Rashidi

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #4: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #3: The paper has been well revised and has high guiding value for the site. It is recommended to accept the paper.

Reviewer #4: The subject of this paper is about the control of dust pollution at the coal transfer point of the mine, which is studied by the finite element-dynamic mesh modeling method, and the wind flow field and dust particle trajectory at the transfer point site are simulated by the simulation COMSOL software, and the reliability of the simulation is verified through experiments and other perspectives. The wind flow field and particle trajectory of the simulated coal transfer site are studied to obtain the vortex distribution law, and the dust cover device is proposed to control the law. The idea is very novel, the arguments are more solid and the data are reliable. I think the research results can provide valuable reference for the research of dust pollution control at the coal transfer point of mine. There is no problem with the macroscopic nature of the overall article, there are some problems that need to be revised, and I recommend publishing this article if the following problems are solved.

1. The specific location of the coal transfer point should be shown in the roadway distribution system map of picture 1.

2. 3.3.1 The experimental part of the device is recommended to be put to the later reliability verification.

3. 3.3.2 The content lacks the specific description of the device dimensions.

4. The content of 3.3.3 does not match with the described picture and needs to be revised.

5. The font in Figure 11 is different from the font of other pictures, and it is suggested to be modified.

6. 4.3 The content analysis is less, and it is suggested to add specificity.

7. Conclusion 1 suggests specific description. And there is no serial number.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #4: No

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Study on Coal Dust Diffusion Law and New Pneumatic Spiral Spray Dedusting Technology at Transfer Point of Mine Cross Roadway

PONE-D-22-08269R2

Dear Dr. zhang,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Mohammad Mehdi Rashidi

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #3: The paper has been fully revised to meet the requirements of the journal and is recommended to be published.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #3: No

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