Leakage through a hole in a geomembrane liner for tailings dams

2010年，加拿大的采矿业直接占我们经济的3.5%（Stats Can）。 矿物开采产生的固体废物副产品需要以可持续的方式进行管理，以维持和发展这一重要的经济活动。 这些废物中的大多数是残留的土壤大小的颗粒和水的最终产品，称为尾矿。 尾矿管理设施是用来以安全、环境上可接受和经济上可行的方式处置尾矿的大型蓄水池。 越来越需要使用土工膜来衬尾矿管理设施，目的是使从蓄水池逸出到周围环境的流体量最小化。 土工膜是一种薄塑料片材，用于显着提高城市固体废物填埋场的环境保护。 然而，很少有具体的数据，使其合理的设计和长期评估的尾矿管理设施。特别是很少有人知道有多少流体可能会逃脱或泄漏通过土工膜。 因此，Klohn Crippen Berger和女王大学之间的这种新伙伴关系的目标是为土工膜衬里尾矿管理系统的设计建立技术基础，以尽量减少流体泄漏到周围环境中。 将在皇后学院利用现有的专门设备进行独特的大规模实验，在现实的物理条件下使用真实的材料量化土工膜孔的渗漏量。 关于影响渗漏的因素和预测渗漏的适当技术的新知识将转让给加拿大地质技术咨询业，并用于更好地管理采矿产生的废物。 预计拟议研究的新发现和知识将导致土工膜内衬尾矿管理系统，这将提供更有效，可靠和具有成本效益的环境保护。 该研究还将为一名博士生和一名岩土工程技术人员提供高级培训。

At 36 billion dollars in 2010, Canada's mining industry directly accounted for 3.5% of our economy (Stats Can). The solid waste by-products generated by mineral extraction need to be managed in a sustainable manner to maintain and grow this significant economic activity. Most of these wastes are remnant soil size particles and water end products that are called tailings. Tailings management facilities are large impoundments that are used to dispose of tailings in a safe, environmentally acceptable and economically feasible manner. There is a growing demand for the use of geomembranes to line tailings management facilities with the objective of minimizing the quantity of fluid escaping from the impoundments to the surrounding environment. Geomembranes are thin plastic sheets that are used to significantly enhance environmental protection in municipal solid waste landfills. However, there is little specific data to permit their rational design and long-term assessment for tailings management facilities. In particular little is known about how much fluid may be expected to escape or leak through the geomembrane. Thus the objective of this new partnership between Klohn Crippen Berger and Queen's University is to establish a technical basis for design of geomembrane lined tailing management systems to minimize fluid leakage into the surrounding environment. Unique large-scale experiments will be conducted with specialized existing equipment at Queen's to quantify the quantity of leakage through holes in the geomembrane using real materials under realistic physical conditions. New knowledge regarding the factors affecting leakage and appropriate techniques to predict leakage will be transferred to Canadian geotechnical consulting industry and applied to better manage mining generated wastes. New findings and knowledge from the proposed research are expected to lead to geomembrane lined tailing management systems that will provide more effective, reliable and cost-effective environmental protection. The research will also provide advanced training for a PhD student and a Geotechnical Engineering Technician.