Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered Waste Rock Pile in a Permafrost Region
department or school: Science, Faculty of
department or school: Non UBC
department or school: Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of
data provider: DSpace
identifier citation: Minerals 11 (6): 565 (2021)
creator: Yi, Xueying
creator: Su, Danyang
creator: Bussière, Bruno
creator: Mayer, K. Ulrich
issued: 2021-07-12T14:04:13Z
issued: 2021-05-26
description: In order to reduce contaminant mass loadings, thermal cover systems may be incorporated in the design of waste rock piles located in regions of continuous permafrost. In this study, reactive transport modeling was used to improve the understanding of coupled thermo-hydrological and chemical processes controlling the evolution of a covered waste rock pile located in Northern Canada. Material properties from previous field and laboratory tests were incorporated into the model to constrain the simulations. Good agreement between simulated and observational temperature data indicates that the model is capable of capturing the coupled thermo-hydrological processes occurring within the pile. Simulations were also useful for forecasting the pile’s long-term evolution with an emphasis on water flow and heat transport mechanisms, but also including geochemical weathering processes and sulfate mass loadings as an indicator for the release of contaminated drainage. An uncertainty analysis was carried out to address different scenarios of the cover’s performance as a function of the applied infiltration rate, accounting for the impacts of evaporation, runoff, and snow ablation. The model results indicate that the cover performance is insensitive to the magnitude of recharge rates, except for limited changes of the flow regime in the shallow active layer. The model was expanded by performing an additional sensitivity analysis to assess the role of cover thicknesses. The simulated results reveal that a cover design with an appropriate thickness can effectively minimize mass loadings in drainage by maintaining the active layer completely within the cover.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/78904
note: mineralsArticleThermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a Covered WasteRock Pile in a Permafrost RegionXueying Yi 1,*, Danyang Su 1, Bruno Bussière 2 and K. Ulrich Mayer 1Citation: Yi, X.; Su, D.; Bussière, B.;Mayer, K.U. Thermal-Hydrological-Chemical Modeling of a CoveredWaste Rock Pile in a PermafrostRegion. Minerals 2021, 11, 565.https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060565Academic Editor: Juan AnteloReceived: 7 February 2021Accepted: 22 May 2021Published: 26 May 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralwith regard to jurisdictional claims inpublished maps and institutional affil-iations.Copyright: © 2021 by the authors.Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This article is an open access articledistributed under the terms andconditions of the Creative CommonsAttribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).1 Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of British Columbia, 2207 Main Mall,Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada; dsu@eoas.ubc.ca (D.S.); umayer@eos.ubc.ca (K.U.M.)2 Institut de Recherche en Mines et en Environnement, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue,445 Boulevard de l’Université, Rouyn-Noranda, QC J9X 5E4, Canada; Bruno.Bussiere@uqat.ca* Correspondence: xyi@eoas.ubc.caAbstract: In order to reduce contaminant mass loadings, thermal cover systems may be incorporatedin the design of waste rock piles located in regions of continuous permafrost. In this study, reactivetransport modeling was used to improve the understanding of coupled thermo-hydrological andchemical processes controlling the evolution of a covered waste rock pile located in Northern Canada.Material properties from previous field and laboratory tests were incorporated into the model toconstrain the simulations. Good agreement between simulated and observational temperaturedata indicates that the model is capable of capturing the coupled thermo-hydrological processesoccurring within the pile. Simulations were also useful for forecasting the pile’s lon…
has type: Article
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0400115
language: eng
peer review status: Reviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publisher DOI: 10.3390/min11060565
rights: CC BY 4.0
rights URI: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
scholar level: Faculty
scholar level: Researcher
subject: reactive transport modeling
subject: mine waste rock
subject: thermal cover
subject: freeze-thaw cycles
subject: permafrost
subject: contaminated drainage
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/78904