Development of a laboratory wind tunnel to test tailings erosion mechanisms
|
Authors: Haynes, M; Fanni, R Open access courtesy of:
|
DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2515_90
Cite As:
Haynes, M & Fanni, R 2025, 'Development of a laboratory wind tunnel to test tailings erosion mechanisms', in S Knutsson, AB Fourie & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2025: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 1-14, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2515_90
Abstract:
A laboratory-scale wind tunnel was developed to quantify the wind erosion potential of mine tailings. The tailings, which were classified as a low plasticity silt, were planned to be deposited as a slurry within a tailings storage facility (TSF), where it would dry and be rewet from rain and subsequent deposition. Therefore, the tailings sample was prepared as a slurry and tested under various scenarios to simulate conditions expected at the site: (i) a dried continuous surface with turbulent airflow; (ii) a dried continuous surface with laminar airflow; (iii) a moist degraded surface; and (iv) a dried degraded surface. Sensors were installed within the wind tunnel to estimate the quantity of soil being eroded by mechanisms of saltation, creep, abrasion/attrition and suspension. Relationships were developed to relate wind speed at a 10 m height (a typical measurement available at the site) to the quantity of eroded material, including total suspended particles, and particulate matter below 10 and 2.5 μm. The results of the testing informed the calibration of parameters for air-quality numerical modelling which were used to assess the risk of dust emission from the site under conditions relevant to various stages throughout the lifecycle of the TSF.
Keywords: tailings, dust, wind tunnel, desiccation, wind erosion
References:
Blight, GE 2007, ‘Wind erosion of tailings dams and mitigation of the dust nuisance’, The Journal of The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, vol. 107, no. 2, pp. 99–108, hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA0038223X_3293
Chepil, WS 1951, ‘Properties of soil which influence wind erosion: V’, Soil Science, vol. 72, no. 6, pp. 465–478.
Chepil, WS 1958, Soil Conditions That Influence Wind Erosion, Technical Bulletin no. 1185, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington.
Feng, DJ, Li, ZS & Ni, JR 2009, ‘Sidewall effects of a wind tunnel on wind velocity and mass flux in aeolian sand transport’, Geomorphology, vol. 106, no. 3–4, pp. 253–260,
Gillette, D 1978, ‘A wind tunnel simulation of the erosion of soil: effect of soil texture, sandblasting, wind speed, and soil consolidation on dust production’, Atmospheric Environment, vol. 12, no. 8, pp. 1735–1743,
Greeley, R & Iversen, JD 1985, Wind as a Geological Process on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
Iverson, JD, Pollack, JB, Greeley, R & White, BR 1976, ‘Saltation threshold on Mars: the effect of interparticle force, surface roughness, and low atmospheric density’, Icarus, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 381–393,
Kok, JF, Parteli, EJR, Michaels, TI & Karam, DB 2012, ‘The physics of wind-blown sand and dust’, Reports on Progress in Physics, vol. 75, no. 10,
Leach, R, Greeley, R & Pollack, J 1989, ‘Saltation thresholds and entrainment of fine particles at Earth and Martian pressures’, NASA Technical Memorandum, no. 102193,
Leys, JF & Eldridge, DJ 1998, ‘Influence of cryptogamic crust disturbance to wind erosion on sand and loam rangeland soils’, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 23, no. 11, pp. 963–974,
(1998110)23:11<963::AID-ESP914>3.0.CO;2-X
Macedo, J & Vergaray, L 2022, ‘Properties of mine tailings for static liquefaction assessment’, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 59, no. 5, pp. 667–687,
Nield, JM, McKenna Neuman, C, O’Brien, P, Bryant, RG & Wiggs, GFS 2016, ‘Evaporative sodium salt crust development and its wind tunnel derived transport dynamics under variable climatic conditions’, Aeolian Research, vol. 23, pp. 51–62,
Oke, TR 2002, Boundary Layer Climates, 2nd edn, Routledge, London.
Owen, PR & Gillette, DA 1985, ‘Wind tunnel constraint on saltation’, in OE Barndorff-Nielsen, JT Moeller, KR Rasmussen & BB Willetts (eds), Proceedings of the International Workshop on the Physics of Blown Sand, Department of Theoretical Statistics, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, pp. 253–269.
Shao, Y 2008, Physics and Modelling of Wind Erosion, 2nd edn, Springer, Dordrecht.
Shao, Y & Raupach, MR 1992, ‘The overshoot and equilibration of saltation’, Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 97, no. D18, pp. 20559–20564,
Sweeny, M, Etyemezian, V, Macpherson, T, Nickling, W, Gillies, J, Nikolich, G & McDonald, E 2008, ‘Comparison of PI-SWERL with dust emission measurements from a straight-line field wind tunnel’, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, vol. 113, no. F1,
Trotta, LM & Ridgway, TH 2022, ‘Embedding climate change risk into mine closure planning: a case study of tailings closure design at Ballarat Gold Mine’, in AB Fourie, M Tibbett & G Boggs (eds), Mine Closure 2022: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 259–266,
/ACG_repo/2215_15
UN Environment Programme 2024, Knowledge Gaps in Relation to the Environmental Aspects of Tailings Management, unece.org/environment/documents/2024/09/informal-documents/knowledge-gaps-relation-environmental-aspects
van Wyk, SJ, Hatting, J & Haagner, ASH 2019, ‘Wind erosion design considerations for closure of tailings storage facilities in South Africa: a case study’, in AB Fourie & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2019: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 1185–1200,
/ACG_rep/1915_94_van_Wyk
White, BR & Mounla, H 1991, ‘An experimental study of Froude number effect on wind-tunnel saltation’, in OE Barndorff-Neilson & BB Willetts (eds), Aeolian Grain Transport 1, Springer, Vienna, pp. 145–157,
Woodruff, NP & Siddoway, FH 1965, ‘A wind erosion equation’, Soil Science Society of America Journal, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 602–608,
© Copyright 2025, Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG), The University of Western Australia. All rights reserved.
View copyright/legal information
Please direct any queries or error reports to repository-acg@uwa.edu.au
View copyright/legal information
Please direct any queries or error reports to repository-acg@uwa.edu.au