Mechanics of Methane Bubbles in Tailings Ponds

尾矿库中甲烷气泡的力学

• 批准号: 537806-2018
• 负责人: Frigaard, IanIA
• 金额: $ 5.55万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=759950
• 关键词: Mechanics; Methane; Bubbles; Tailings; Ponds

This project will study how bubbles are nucleated and grow within the different layers of a tailings pond. The sludge-like material formed below the water layer has a material property called a yield stress (similar to e.g. hair gel or yoghurt) that allows the liquid to remain stiff where more conventional liquids (e.g. water) would flow. This same property also allows for bubbles to be trapped within the liquid. This project asks the question of whether bubbles move or remain static, e.g. how big must bubbles become to move, how many small bubbles can we trap in the sludge, how stable would the bubble-laden layers be? Moving bubbles (methane) are released to the atmosphere as greenhouse gases, so we would like to estimate and possibly control that mechanism. We are also interested to estimate whether a catastrophic failure could occur, where all the pond layers destabilize and release their bubbles as a form of eruption. This project will involve a mix of computational modelling, lab experiments and mathematical analysis. The experiments are designed to allow direct visualization of bubble growth/motion. Both these and the models will allow us to experiment with different ways of controlling the underlying processes that allow gas release, e.g. preventing production, limiting growth, limiting motion. As well as covering questions of practical interest for the oil sands industry, these are challenging and interesting areas for fluid mechanics.

该项目将研究气泡如何在尾矿池的不同层中成核和生长。水层下方形成的污泥状材料具有称为屈服应力的材料特性（类似于发胶或酸奶），它允许液体在更传统的液体（例如水）流动的地方保持僵硬。这种相同的特性还允许气泡被困在液体内。该项目提出了气泡是移动还是保持静止的问题，例如气泡必须有多大才能移动，我们可以在污泥中捕获多少个小气泡，充满气泡的层有多稳定？移动的气泡（甲烷）作为温室气体释放到大气中，因此我们希望估计并可能控制该机制。我们还有兴趣估计是否会发生灾难性故障，即所有池塘层都不稳定并以喷发的形式释放气泡。该项目将涉及计算建模、实验室实验和数学分析。该实验旨在允许直接可视化气泡生长/运动。这些和模型都将允许我们尝试不同的方法来控制允许气体释放的基础过程，例如阻止生产、限制生长、限制运动。除了涵盖油砂行业实际感兴趣的问题外，这些对于流体力学来说也是具有挑战性和有趣的领域。