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。同时，环境问题 油砂作业的影响也在不断增加。尾矿库几乎完全用于废物处理。 目前，这些蓄水池的总占地面积超过220平方公里。已处理 油砂矿石产生由水、沙、粉砂和粘土(或称细粉)组成的尾矿浆，以及少量的 残留的沥青。尾矿被排放到沉淀池中，使砂粒快速沉降。 在海滩上，池塘里堆满了细小的尾矿。 加拿大油砂创新联盟(COSIA)与UAlberta合作，显著 提高尾矿库的复垦速度。拟议的研究计划包括 互补的主题，融合了来自UAlberta和行业的多学科专业知识。这项研究 建议开发和应用新的和创新的岩土技术来设计干式堆积矿床 用于油砂行业，同时研究岩土工程和生物地球化学方面的 目前的油砂尾矿管理和复垦战略。拟议的研究计划侧重于： 主题1：干式堆积矿床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性质的影响 主题3：覆盖软尾矿矿藏 这些互补的主题旨在进行研究，展望尾矿矿床的未来，而 为眼前/临时挑战提供研究。预计将有15名高素质人员 通过研究项目进行培训。此外，产业界和学术界的合作将使 流体细粒尾矿行为的基本发现和改进的管理，有利于 工程学科，并支持阿尔伯塔大学和加拿大作为国际领先的 采矿复垦与油砂尾矿岩土技术。

The oil sands are viewed as a vital component to the Canadian economy. At the same time, the environmental impacts of oil sands operations are also growing. Tailings impoundments are used almost exclusively for waste management, and the combined footprint for these impoundments is currently more than 220 km2. Processed oil sands ore yields a tailings slurry composed of water, sand, silt and clay (or "fines"), and a small amount of residual bitumen. The tailings are discharged into a settling basin, allowing the sand fraction to settle quickly on 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 significantly advance the rate at which tailings ponds can be reclaimed. The proposed research program consists of complementary themes that integrate multidisciplinary expertise from UAlberta and industry. The research proposes the development and application of new and innovative geotechniques to design dry stacked deposits for the oil sands industry while simultaneously investigating geotechnical and bio-geochemical aspects of current oil sands tailings management and reclamation strategies. The proposed research program focuses on: Theme 1: Engineered Mixtures of Tailings and Overburden for Dry Stacked Deposits Theme 2: Influence of Bio-geo-chemical Interactions on the Geotechnical Behaviour of Soft Tailings Theme 3: Capping Soft Tailings Deposits These complementary themes aim to conduct research that looks to the future of tailings deposits, while providing research for immediate/interim challenges. It is anticipated that 15 highly qualified personnel will be trained through the research program. Further, the collaboration between industry and academia will enable fundamental discoveries for the behaviour and improved management of fluid fine tailings, benefitting the engineering discipline, and bolster the University of Alberta and Canada's position as an international leader in mining reclamation and oil sands tailings geotechnique.