NSERC/COSIA Industrial Research Chair in Oil Sand Tailings Geotechnique

油砂被视为加拿大经济的重要组成部分。与此同时，油砂开采对环境的影响也越来越大。尾矿池几乎完全用于废物管理，这些水库的总足迹目前超过220平方公里。经过加工的油砂矿石会产生由水、沙子、淤泥和粘土（或“细粒”）以及少量残余沥青组成的尾矿浆。尾砂排入沉降池，砂段在滩上快速沉降，其余细粒尾砂在池中沉降。加拿大油砂创新联盟（COSIA）与阿尔伯塔大学合作，显著提高了尾矿池的回收率。拟议的研究计划包括互补的主题，整合了来自阿尔伯塔大学和工业界的多学科专业知识。本研究提出了新的和创新的土工技术的发展和应用，以设计油砂工业的干堆矿床，同时研究当前油砂尾矿管理和回收策略的土工和生物地球化学方面的问题。拟议的研究计划侧重于：主题1：干堆沉积物的尾矿和覆盖层的工程混合物主题2：生物-地球化学相互作用对软尾矿岩土力学行为的影响主题3：覆盖软尾矿沉积物这些互补的主题旨在进行研究，展望尾矿沉积物的未来，同时为当前/临时挑战提供研究。预计通过该研究项目将培养出15名高素质人才。此外，工业界和学术界之间的合作将使流体细尾矿的行为和改进管理的基本发现成为可能，有利于工程学科，并巩固阿尔伯塔大学和加拿大作为采矿复垦和油砂尾矿岩土技术的国际领导者的地位。

The oil sands are viewed as a vital component to the Canadian economy. At the same time, the environmentalimpacts of oil sands operations are also growing. Tailings impoundments are used almost exclusively for wastemanagement, and the combined footprint for these impoundments is currently more than 220 km2. Processedoil sands ore yields a tailings slurry composed of water, sand, silt and clay (or "fines"), and a small amount ofresidual bitumen. The tailings are discharged into a settling basin, allowing the sand fraction to settle quicklyon the beach with the balance of fine tailings settling in the pond.The Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and have partnered with UAlberta to significantlyadvance the rate at which tailings ponds can be reclaimed. The proposed research program consists ofcomplementary themes that integrate multidisciplinary expertise from UAlberta and industry. The researchproposes the development and application of new and innovative geotechniques to design dry stacked depositsfor the oil sands industry while simultaneously investigating geotechnical and bio-geochemical aspects ofcurrent oil sands tailings management and reclamation strategies. The proposed research program focuses on:Theme 1: Engineered Mixtures of Tailings and Overburden for Dry Stacked DepositsTheme 2: Influence of Bio-geo-chemical Interactions on the Geotechnical Behaviour of Soft TailingsTheme 3: Capping Soft Tailings DepositsThese complementary themes aim to conduct research that looks to the future of tailings deposits, whileproviding research for immediate/interim challenges. It is anticipated that 15 highly qualified personnel will betrained through the research program. Further, the collaboration between industry and academia will enablefundamental discoveries for the behaviour and improved management of fluid fine tailings, benefitting theengineering discipline, and bolster the University of Alberta and Canada's position as an international leader inmining reclamation and oil sands tailings geotechnique.