Leakage through a hole in a geomembrane liner for tailings dams

2010年，加拿大矿业收入达360亿美元，直接贡献了我们经济的3.5%(统计数据可以)。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。这些废物中的大部分是残留的土壤颗粒和水的最终产物，称为尾矿。尾矿管理设施是用于以安全、环境可接受和经济可行的方式处置尾矿的大型蓄水池。越来越多的人需要使用地膜来布置尾矿管理设施，目的是尽量减少从蓄水池逃逸到周围环境的液体的数量。土工膜是一种薄塑料板，用于显著加强城市固体废物填埋场的环境保护。然而，几乎没有具体的数据来支持他们对尾矿管理设施的合理设计和长期评估。特别是，人们对土工膜预计会有多少液体外泄或泄漏知之甚少。因此，Klohn Crippen Berger和皇后大学的这一新合作伙伴关系的目标是为土工膜衬里尾矿管理系统的设计奠定技术基础，以最大限度地减少液体泄漏到周围环境。皇后学院将利用专门的现有设备进行独特的大规模实验，以量化在现实物理条件下使用真实材料在土工膜上穿孔的渗漏量。关于影响渗漏的因素和预测渗漏的适当技术的新知识将被转让给加拿大的岩土咨询行业，并应用于更好地管理采矿产生的废物。来自拟议研究的新发现和新知识有望导致土工膜衬里尾矿管理系统的出现，从而提供更有效、更可靠和更具成本效益的环境保护。这项研究还将为一名博士生和一名岩土工程技术员提供高级培训。

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.