Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) created a committee to develop guidelines for testing the load bearing strength of oil sands tailings deposits. The need comes from the Alberta Energy Regulator's Directive 74 that requires that 50% of fines from an ore be captured in a disposal area and achieve an undrained shear strength of 5 kPa within one year. How to reliably measure this in reporting to AER?
Dr. Heather Kaminsky reports on the committee's findings and recommendations for methods to measure shear strength in undrained oil sands tailings. Defining undrained conditions is important. The Field Vane Shear Test and the CPT/Ball Test were recommended as two methods for measuring undrained shear strength. Dr. Kaminsky's presentation covers the qualifications, details and additional information needed to do this type of measurement in managing oil sands tailings.
Dr. Kaminsky's presentation was part of the Oil Sands Tailings 2014 conference in Lake Louise, Alberta, Dec. 7-10, 2014.
