Permeability Characteristics of Tailings considering Chemical and Physical Clogging in Lixi Tailings Dam, China

Abstract

Chemical and physical clogging frequently occur in tailings dam. The clogging seriously influences the safety of tailings dam. This paper conducts several column experiments to analyse the physical and chemical clogging of the Lixi tailings dam in China. The experiment results of chemical clogging show that average flow velocity and permeability decrease by approximately 50% to 60%. The experiment results of physical clogging show that these values decrease by approximately 50% to 70%. For physical clogging, a higher hydraulic gradient could result in a larger extent of decrease in the permeability coefficient. The permeability did not decrease when the hydraulic gradient was equal to 0.125. The results of chemical clogging column experiments show that ferrous ion solution concentration is disproportional to the permeability coefficient. This scenario can be attributed to the extremely small concentration gradients.