Influence of rheological characteristics on the fluidization catastrophe of tailings flows

• Published in: Journal of mountain science 2023-09, Vol.20 (9), p.2628-2643
• Main Authors: Wang, Dao-zheng, Lian, Bao-qin, Wang, Xin-gang, Chen, Xiao-qing, Wang, Jia-ding, Wang, Fei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical modification; Constitutive relationships; Debris flow; Density; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecology; Environment; Fluidization; Fluidizing; Freeze-thaw; Geography; Geological hazards; Loss modulus; Mine tailings; Mining; Mountain regions; Mountainous areas; Original Article; Rainfall; Rheological properties; Rheology; Sediment concentration; Storage modulus; Tailings; Theoretical analysis; Viscoelasticity; Yield strength; Yield stress; Yields
• ISSN: 1672-6316; 1993-0321; 1008-2786
• DOI: 10.1007/s11629-023-7960-6

Limited by mining technology, mineral exploitation can produce large amounts of tailings. Heavy summer rainfall or seasonal freeze-thaw can lead to physical and chemical modification of tailing material in mountainous areas, resulting in fluidized tailings flow and severe disaster losses. Therefore, aiming at the problem of tailings fluidization catastrophe, this paper tried to reveal the rheological mechanism of tailings fluidization transformation by combining rheological tests and theoretical analysis. The results show that the yield stress increases with decreasing temperature, and when the density of debris flow ( ρ ) is more than 1.9 g/cm 3 , this behavior becomes more pronounced as the density increases. The storage modulus decreases by at least two orders of magnitude at the solid-fluid transition under amplitude test sweep. Storage and loss modulus in the linear viscoelastic range and yield stress have an exponential growth relationship with sediment concentration. In addition, a stress constitutive relation and a new exponential law describing the evolution of yield stress required for solid-liquid transformation were proposed, and the relationship is further strengthened through a comprehensive analysis of existing results, which expands the evaluation application of the rheological characteristics of tailings flow. This paper provides a new insight into the rheological properties of tailing and how they occur through solid-liquid transition under different environments, which is beneficial to geological hazard prevention and the ecological remediation of the mining area.