Research on the Movement Mechanism of Pulp Surging from Tailings Dam-Break

Abstract

In China, currently there are more than 7, 000 tailings impoundments all over the country and most of them have potential hazard. With the gradually increasing of tailings dam-break disaster because of multifarious factors, the people’s lives, property and the environment of nearby regions can suffer great harm, The safety of tailings management facilities has caused increasing concern and attention from the governments and local community. Because of the different hydraulic power, the tailings pulp concentration surging from tailings dam-break have great differences, research on the movement mechanism of different concentration tailings pulp surging from tailings dam-break and to propose the emergency preparedness is very important. Therefore, In this study, a physics test model for tailings dam-break was carried out in hydrodynamic laboratory based on the design data of impoundments. Through the simulation experiment, the movement mechanism of tailings dam-break wave which includes the law of debris flow evolution, the change of impact force strength and velocities of the front of wave are considered in the conditions of changing the tailings pulp. The results can provide reliable information for guiding the crowd of downstream to remove immediately and lighten the loss of disaster.