Understanding, characterization, modeling, and simulation of the spontaneous failure of tailings dams

尾矿坝自发破坏的理解、表征、建模和模拟

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-06049
• 负责人: Taiebat, Mahdi
• 金额: $ 4.52万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 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=749433
• 关键词: Understanding; characterization; modeling; simulation; spontaneous

The extraction of raw materials goes hand-in-hand with the generation of large amounts of waste products, consisting of mineral solids, process water, and chemical substances. This often hazardous sludge, known as "tailings", is pumped into massive earth ponds, so-called Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs), which often achieve great dimensions. The failure of TSFs leads to an uncontrolled discharge of waste that may have catastrophic impacts on the environment and on human beings, and cause huge economic losses. Unlike dams for water storage, in which water can be discharged if its structural integrity is endangered, TSFs must stand in perpetuity. Nevertheless, the high rate of catastrophic failures worldwide - about 20 failures per decade in the past 60 years - demonstrates unambiguously that TSFs are far from fulfilling this requirement. The causes of TSF failures have mainly been geotechnical. Liquefaction, with static or dynamic triggers, is a major hazard threatening the stability of TSFs with extreme consequences. Inadequate understanding of the corresponding failure mechanisms in tailings is known as a major factor in tailings dam failure cases. There is, therefore, an urgent need to improve our fundamental understanding of the mechanical response of tailings under monotonic and cyclic loadings, our effectiveness in the characterization of tailings, and our capabilities in modeling and simulation of TSFs to assess their failure triggers, mechanisms, and precursors. This proposal responds to the urgent need to reduce the failure rate of TSFs. More specifically, building on the previous body of work developed by the applicant and his team of HQP in the two core areas of constitutive and numerical modeling of geomaterials, the aim of this research is to develop new solutions for the challenging problem of stability analysis of TSFs and their risk of failure. Understanding the liquefaction of tailings materials, predicting the onset of liquefaction, and modeling the behavior of liquefied and non-liquefied tailings are essential parts of this study. In particular, the study will include efficient constitutive modeling of tailings material and its numerical integration in versatile computational platforms, for sound mechanics-based modeling of tailings and TSFs to assess their stability and their risk of failure. The proposed research takes advantage of ongoing collaborations with leading industrial and academic institutes and will train 4 PhD and 2 MASc students who will be supported partially or fully by this NSERC DG as well as several undergraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting students from collaborating institutes who will be supported from other sources of funding. The short and long term outcomes of this research contribute to groundbreaking advances in the extractive industries' life cycle, increasing the sustainability of mining and generating added value to Canada.

原材料的提取与大量废物的产生，包括矿物质固体，工艺水和化学物质。这种经常被称为“尾矿”的危险污泥被泵送入大量的地球池塘，所谓的尾矿存储设施（TSF），通常可以实现巨大的尺寸。 TSF的失败导致不受控制的废物排放可能会对环境和人类产生灾难性影响，并造成巨大的经济损失。与水库储存的大坝不同，如果水结构完整性受到威胁，可以将水排出，TSF必须永久存在。然而，全世界的灾难性失败率很高 - 过去60年中每十年大约有20个失败 - 明确地表明，TSF远非满足这一要求。 TSF故障的原因主要是岩土技术。具有静态或动态触发器的液化是一种主要危害，威胁到TSF的稳定性，并产生极大的后果。对尾矿中相应的故障机制的理解不足，被称为尾矿大坝故障案例的主要因素。因此，迫切需要提高我们对单调和循环载荷下尾矿的机械响应的基本理解，我们在尾矿表征方面的有效性以及我们在TSF建模和模拟TSF中评估其故障触发器，机制，机制和前体的能力。该提案应对降低TSF的失败率的迫切需求。更具体地说，基于申请人及其HQP团队在构成构成和数值建模的两个核心领域开发的工作主体，这项研究的目的是为TSF稳定的稳定性分析及其失败风险开发新的解决方案。理解尾矿材料的液化，预测液化的发作，并建模液化和非熟型尾矿的行为是本研究的重要组成部分。特别是，该研究将包括对尾矿材料的有效构造建模及其在多功能计算平台中的数值集成，用于基于机械的尾矿和TSF的建模，以评估其稳定性和失败风险。拟议的研究利用了与领先的工业和学术机构进行的持续合作，并将培训4名博士学位和2名MASC学生，这些博士学位将受到NSERC DG的部分或全部支持，以及几位本科生，博士后研究员，并从其他资金来源获得协作支持的机构的学生来拜访学生。这项研究的短期和长期结果有助于提取行业的生命周期的开创性进步，从而提高了采矿的可持续性并为加拿大带来了附加值。