Rankine, Kelda S. (2007) Development of two and three-dimensional method of fragments to analyse drainage behaviour in hydraulic fill stopes. PhD thesis, James Cook University.

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Abstract

The extraction and processing of most mineral ores, result in the generation of large volumes of finer residue or tailings. The safe disposal of such material is of prime environmental, safety and economical concern to the management of mining operations. In underground metaliferous mining operations, where backfilling of mining voids is necessary, one option is to fill these voids with a tailings-based engineered product. In cases where the fill is placed as a slurry and the fill contains free water, permeable barricades are generally constructed to contain the fill within the mining void whilst providing a suitable means for the drainage water to escape from the fill. Recent barricade failures, resulting from poor drainage, have led to an immediate need for an increased understanding of the pore pressure developments and flow rates throughout the filling operation. This thesis presents simple analytical solutions, based on the ‘method of fragments,’ for estimating discharge and maximum pore pressure for two and three-dimensional hydraulically filled stopes. Shape factors were developed to account for the inherent individuality associated with stope and drain geometry. The influence of scaling on discharge and pore pressure measurements is also investigated. The proposed solutions are verified against solutions derived from a finite difference program and physical modelling of a scaled mine stope and results showed excellent agreement. Using these analytical solutions developed for flow through three-dimensional hydraulic fill stopes, a user-friendly EXCEL model was developed to accurately and efficiently model the drainage behaviour in three-dimensional stopes. The model simulates the complete filling and draining of the stopes and was verified using the finite difference software FLAC3D. The variation and sensitivity in drainage behaviour and pore water pressure measurements with, the variation in geometry, fill properties and filling-cycles of a three-dimensional hydraulic fill stope was also investigated.

Item ID:	2093
Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Keywords:	barricades, drainage, underground mines, backfill, minefill, fragments, hydraulic filled stopes, EXCEL model, FLAC, finite difference software, mine tailings, pore pressure, filling cycles, method of fragments, barricade design, shape factors, disposal, safety, seepage
Date Deposited:	26 Feb 2009 01:27
FoR Codes:	09 ENGINEERING > 0914 Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy > 091405 Mining Engineering @ 0% 09 ENGINEERING > 0910 Manufacturing Engineering > 091008 Manufacturing Safety and Quality @ 0%
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