REAL TIME MONITORING OF VOLUMETRIC WATER CONTENT IN RECLAIMED MINE WASTE USING CONE PENETRATION - TIME DOMAIN REFLECTOMETRY
Date
2018-10-23
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Reclamation soil covers over mine waste are designed to store water as a means of controlling
water balance in order to support re-vegetation and minimize the net percolation of water into mine
waste. Measurement of stored volumes of water in reclamation material is a critical element in
monitoring the performance of the soil cover.
The purpose of this project is to undertake laboratory and field trials of a sensor to measure
volumetric water content profiles through reclaimed mine waste using a new time domain
reflectometry (TDR) component added to conventional geotechnical cone penetration testing
(CPT). Time domain reflectometry measures the volumetric water content of a soil by
characterizing the dielectric constant of the soil – a property that is strongly dependant on
volumetric water content. The sensor design is constrained by the ability to be adapted to standard
CPT equipment as well as being operational in soils with elevated electrically conductivity (EC).
The engineering problem addressed in this project is the measurement of detailed profiles of stored
water volume over large areas of reclaimed mine waste (i.e. soil covers placed over tailings or
overburden) in real time. If successful, this will be a new method to obtain real time, spatial
distributions of stored water volume to depths of up to 10 m within reclaimed mine closure
landscapes. Other methods exist to obtain stored water volume profiles however these methods are
rather complicated.
The laboratory component of this project was intended to measure the accuracy and operational
range of the device using prepared samples under a controlled setting. Two field based calibration
studies were used to assess the robustness of the device under extreme forces and to evaluate its
performance under actual field conditions. It is expected that the developed CPT-TDR probe can
be utilized by industry to evaluate the performance of reclamation covers in a wide variety of
closure designs.
Description
Keywords
TDR, CPT, MINE CLOSURE, SOIL COVERS, VOLUMETRIC WATER CONTENT, STORED WATER VOLUMES
Citation
Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)
Department
Civil and Geological Engineering
Program
Civil Engineering