Tailings pond accidents frequently occur during an extended period, resulting in loss of life and property, wastage of resources, and environmental pollution. Relying on tailings pond engineering, this paper carried out sample particle fragmentation experiments and settling column experiments to explore the deposition distribution pattern of tailings in both horizontal and vertical directions as well as the impact of particle size distribution on the sedimentation stratification effect. The results show that the median particle size on the dry beach surface in the horizontal direction slowly decreased with the increase in the distance from the subdam. The particle size of tailings showed great fluctuations in the vertical direction, which gradually became finer with the increase in the depth overall. At the same time, saturated sedimentation experiments suggested the inconsistent variation rule with the field test, namely, coarse on the bottom and fine at the top, and the change in particle size greatly affected the tailing sedimentation stratification effect. With the increase in fine particle content in tailings, the appearance time of the water–sand interface was shortened to within 30 min, but the sedimentation and consolidation completion times were delayed to about 1400 min. The settling column results indicate that the increase in fine particle content gradually weakened the sedimentation stratification effect, and the sedimentation pattern transformed from independent sedimentation to floc-type average sedimentation, which led to the enhanced water-retaining property of the settled layer. This may lead to an increase in the saturation line and a decrease in the length of the dry beach, seriously affecting the safe operation of the tailings pond. The research results provide some theoretical guidance and basic data for analyzing the consolidation efficiency of tailings and the stability of the tailings pond.

中文翻译：

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尾矿沉积分布规律及沉降特性试验研究

尾矿库事故频发、周期较长，造成生命财产损失、资源浪费、环境污染。依托尾矿库工程，开展样品颗粒破碎实验和沉降柱实验，探讨尾矿在水平和垂直方向的沉降分布规律以及粒度分布对沉降分层效果的影响。结果表明，干滩表面水平方向的中值粒径随着距子坝距离的增加而缓慢减小。尾矿粒度在垂直方向上呈现较大波动，总体上随着深度的增加逐渐变细。同时，饱和沉降实验表明尾矿沉降分层效果与现场试验不一致，即底部粗、顶部细，且粒度的变化极大地影响了尾矿沉降分层效果。随着尾矿中细颗粒含量的增加，水砂界面出现时间缩短至30 min以内，但沉降固结完成时间延迟至1 400 min左右。沉降柱结果表明，细颗粒含量的增加逐渐减弱了沉降分层效应，沉降方式由独立沉降转变为絮状平均沉降，导致沉降层保水性增强。这可能导致饱和线升高、干滩长度减少，严重影响尾矿库的安全运行。研究成果为分析尾矿固结效率和尾矿库稳定性提供了一定的理论指导和基础数据。