Journal
JOURNAL OF TESTING AND EVALUATION
Volume 49, Issue 4, Pages 2742-2756Publisher
AMER SOC TESTING MATERIALS
DOI: 10.1520/JTE20200404
Keywords
mining tailings; geotextiles; filtration and drainage; nonsegregation flocculation
Funding
- Scholarship for Visiting Scholars Program of Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences [Z017007005]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51779251]
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This study investigated the treatment method of tailings slurry, showing that nonsegregation flocculation can improve the drainage performance and stability of tailings. It is recommended to use large-sized flocs and geotextiles with large pore sizes for optimal drainage strategy in building tailings dams.
Pumping tailings slurry into geotextile bags is a burgeoning method employed to build tailings dams with improved tailings management. Fine contents bring great challenges for tailings stability. In this article, nonsegregation flocculation was selected for fine tailings. Experiments were carried out in three campaigns: nonsegregation flocculation of tailings slurry to reduce fine content in supernatant (low turbidity); water drainage evaluation via filtration tests, plus the measurement of capillary suction time; and the study of geotechnical properties, including hydraulic conductivity and yield strength. From the results, it is demonstrated that the tailings slurry without flocculation showed apparent particle segregation and poor drainage performance compared to tailings with nonsegregation flocculation. The yield strength with nonsegregation tailings was enhanced by two times to initial values. Scanning electron microscopy image analysis was used to check the attachment status of solid particles on geotextile surfaces after being used for filtration tests. The mechanism of enhancing geotextile drainage revealed that increased permeability and reduced geotextile pore-plugging should account for the enhanced water drainage and tailings stability. A pattern of achieving optimal drainage strategy of geotextile bag was recommended for building a tailings dam, which is to use large-sized flocs plus geotextiles with large pore sizes (up to 0.6 mm).
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