Modelling of Fluidised Geomaterials: The Case of the Aberfan and the Gypsum Tailings Impoundment Flowslides

Abstract

The choice of a pure cohesive or a pure frictional viscoplastic model to represent the rheological behaviour of a flowslide is of paramount importance in order to obtain accurate results for real cases. The principal goal of the present work is to clarify the influence of the type of viscous model—pure cohesive versus pure frictional—with the numerical reproduction of two different real flowslides that occurred in 1966: the Aberfan flowslide and the Gypsum tailings impoundment flowslide. In the present work, a depth-integrated model based on the v-pw Biot–Zienkiewicz formulation, enhanced with a diffusion-like equation to account for the pore pressure evolution within the soil mass, is applied to both 1966 cases. For the Aberfan flowslide, a frictional viscous model based on Perzyna viscoplasticity is considered, while a pure cohesive viscous model (Bingham model) is considered for the case of the Gypsum flowslide. The numerical approach followed is the SPH method, which has been enriched by adding a 1D finite difference grid to each SPH node in order to improve the description of the pore water evolution in the propagating mixture. The results obtained by the performed simulations are in agreement with the documentation obtained through the UK National Archive (Aberfan flowslide) and the International Commission of large Dams (Gypsum flowslide).

Comparison of two depth-averaged numerical models for debris flow runout estimation

“…Manzella et al 2008, Pisani et al 2013, Sauthier et al 2015 and of real events (e.g. Pirulli 2009, Pirulli and Marco 2010, Pirulli and Pastor 2012, Pirulli 2016, Dutto et al 2017, Pirulli et al 2017, and in the frame of a common benchmark exercise (see Pastor et al 2007, Pirulli andScavia 2007).…”

Use of Basalt Fiber-Reinforced Tailings for Improving the Stability of Tailings Dam

“…However, many factors, such as slope instability, internal instability, and improper design could contribute to tailings dam failures [5]. These failures have resulted in not only irreversible environmental pollution [6] but also the loss of lives and property in the downstream [7,8]. As can be seen, improving the stability of tailings dams remains a challenge for mine researchers and operators regarding their consequences of failure.…”

Evolution Pattern of Tailings Flow from Dam Failure and the Buffering Effect of Debris Blocking Dams

“…So far, numerous scholars have estimated the flow characteristics of tailings pond dam failure such as total tailings leakage, dam breach width and maximum tailings flux through theoretical derivation, statistical analysis and other approaches and also formed relevant theoretical formulas [17][18][19][20][21]. With the rise of computer simulation software, plentiful fluid dynamics software has been applied to the evolution pattern research of tailings flow resulting from tailings pond leakage [22][23][24][25]. The fluid rheological equation embedded in FLO-2D, a US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-approved flood and mudflow hazard simulation software [26,27], can be used for the simulation of the rheological state during evolution of leaked tailings flow.…”