INTERACTION OF HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES AND LARGE WESTERN LANDFILL OF OPEN MINE BOGUTOVO SELO IN UGLJEVIK

Prof. Dr Duko uri1 dipl. ing. gra, S. Kolakovi1*dipl. ing. gra.-master, V. uri2 strukovni gra. ing.
*

University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad, Serbia Authors to correspondence should be addressed via email: duskodjuric@gmail.com cole86grb@gmail.com 2 Institute for hydrotechnics and ecology in Bijeljina

Abstract: Opening of open mines, exploitation of the ore and tailings management are often followed by complex water management and hydro technical problems. Protection of open mines and tailing ponds from surface and ground water is very complex and significantly contribute to forming of price of a final product - ore. Therefore, this work studied condition of existing hydrotechnical objects and their operational safety, impacts analysis or interaction of built and planned hydro-technical objects and objects of mine and power plant Ugljevik, including the possibility of construction of planned hydro-technical objects in new exploitation conditions. Keywords: open mine, tailing pond, hydro-technical objects, protection from water, dam, closing-drainage tunnel 1. INTRODUCTION Hydro-technical object often need to be realized prior to the removal and storage of tailings, at the same time when the ore exploitation conducts and finally, after the ore exploitation and storage of tailings. In other words, open mines and landfills need to be protected from great water in every moment. This is the case for the open mine (OM) Ugljevik. At its beginning, on the east side of the mine, the riverbed of Ugljevik river and Mii stream are moved and regulated in order to protect mine from flooding. On the west side of the open mine, in valley of the river Mezgrajica, the storage of tailings was planned. In order to achieve this during the preparation phase, there was an attempt to move and lift up the riverbed of the river Mezgraja on the right side of the valley. It was planned to make the space for storage of tailings on this place. However, due to landslides on the site Crveni potok, this option was delayed. Therefore, the Large western open mine (LWO) of Bogutovo village mine was formed in the valley of Mezgraja river, upstream of power plant Ugljevik with previous construction of dam at the upstream side of tailing pond and tunnel below the pond. Following hydro-technical objects were constructed before the storage of tailings: -

Earth dam Ugljevik, Closing chamber and sliding shutters, Drainage tunnel beneath the dam and landfill with length of 4,4 km. Channel on the collection point for drainage of high water which may overflow the dam, Brzotok/quickflow at the downstream end of the landfill, Regulations of the Mezgrajica river downstream of the quickflow.

Objects which are not constructed to date: -

Observations (auscultations) of drain tunnels were made with some interruptions, while auscultations of the dam were not made at all. Built objects are exploited during last 26 years, so certain visible damages occurred. The work was made according to study results [1]. 2. AVAILABLE SURFACES/MEDIA Available geodesic, hydrological, geo-mechanical, geological, mining and other media, as well as existing studies and project documents were used for purpose of this work [2,4]. These documents are related to the open mine Ugljevik and Large western landfill. Also, these documents are in possession of Rudnik/Mine. 3. CONSTRUCTED HYDRO-TECHNICAL OBJECTS IN LARGE WESTERN LANDFILL 3.1 The Mezgraja dam Dispositional position of the Mezgraja dam and other earlier constructed hydro-technical objects in Large western landfill is presented in the Figure 1.
LEGEND: 1. POWER PLANT 2. UGLJEVIK MINE 3. OPEN MINE 4. LARGE WESTERN OPEN MINE 5. MEZGRAJA DAM 6. MEZGRAJA RESERVOIR 7. TUNNEL BENEATH THE OPEN MINE 8. CHANNEL ON THE OPEN MINE (SUGGESTED ROUTE 9. PROPOSAL FOR REGULATION OF UGLJEVIKA RIVER 10. MOVING OF WATER FROM MIIA STREAM INTO CHANNEL ON THE OPEN MINE

Figure 1. Overview position of LWO Bogutovo selo The Mezgraja dam is located in the canyon section of the Mezgraja river which is 6 km away from the confluence of the river Janja, or from the power plant Ugljevik. The river valley is widened downstream of the dam, which provides the storage of large amount of tailings.

Considering that the dam height is larger than 10 m, this dam belongs to the group of high dams, according to existing regulations. These dams need regular auscultations according to the auscultations project. Selected ground materials from the open mine Ugljevik were used for the construction of the dam. According to the kind of building material, this dam belongs to the group of earth dams. There is a drainage system beneath the dam and reverse wells are placed downstream of the dam. Using field survey in the vicinity of the dam and reservoir, and visual inspection of the accessible surface of the dam, it was found that there are no visible landslides, damage, displacement and deformations of the dam. The valley profile of the Mezgraja, where the dam is built, provides the elevation of the dam in morphological and geological sense. This can be done in order to achieve the largest volume of the landfill downstream of the dam. However, the elevation of the dam would increase the height of the maximum gradient in the reservoir and the length of the reservoir. This would sink the network on the end of current accumulation and open mine which is placed south of the reservoir. Therefore, it is not rational to consider the elevation of the dam while additional landfills should be provided on other and safer locations. 3.2 The dam overflow There is frontal gradient with trapezoidal cross-section at the dam crest. For earth dams, the overflow over the downstream side of the dam is not allowed because of possible erosion of the downstream slope and dam stability. Lateral gradients are made in practice. In this case, the water flows in collection concrete channel and quickflow which are made in indigenous soil at the one side of the river valley. However, this option is excluded for the case of the Mezgrajica dam for two reasons. First, the construction of the lateral gradient would significantly decrease the volume of the landfill and second, the storage of tailings should be made on the right side of the valley, in order to provide conditions for landfill channel forming. This channel should be used for the evacuation of large water which overflows the dam. Overflow construction on the dam and the connection with the channel are not completed. The crest of the dam includes tubular part with circular cross-section, diameter of 1000 mm, which is not enough. In the area of water entrance into the tubular part, some minor damages are visible at the upstream side of the dam, which is the result of turbulent flow when water enters the tube during the overflow. According to this, the gradient for the flow is not completed and it needs an urgent construction. 3.3 Bottom outlet (drainage tunnel beneath the landfill) Prior the construction of the dam, the reinforced concrete bottom outlet is built. This outlet is continued with drainage tunnel beneath the landfill (figure 2). During the dam construction, the bottom outlet was used for the water evacuation during the construction. After the dam is built, this outlet is extended along the Mezgraja river valley to the end of the landfill on the downstream side. Total length of the drainage tunnel beneath the landfill is approximately 4, 4 km. The tunnel is built during the period 1984 1986. At the same time, the building of the dam started, including the storage of the tailings on the LWO.
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Zero tunnel vision was made in May 1985 using the special program for auscultation. Observations were made with certain delays, while the last observation was conducted in October 2011. Several last auscultations indicated on visible damages on concrete and reinforcement on the entire length (subsidence of 1066 mm at the section with maximum height of the landfill). Beside the large load, great subsidence and tunnel damaging can be result of the soil composition on the position where the tunnel is founded, including the permanent presence of water. Water causes corrosion of concrete and reinforcement. 3.4 Closing chamber Closing chamber is reinforced concrete construction with slide shutters which are used for regulation of flow from the reservoir. According to main project, the closing chamber is divided into three equal parts (shafts). Two upstream chambers include two slide shutters while the third chamber has downstream stairs with leobran/back protection. All steel elements are corroded and their capacity is questionable. Axes and shutter spindles are deformed. Concrete notches for shutters are also damaged. Therefore, the function of shutters is unsecure and even impossible. During the visual observation, both shutters were rolled down but because of the bad sealing, the water excelled beneath them (figures 2 and 3).

Figure 2. Corrosion of slide shutter

Figure 3. Excelling beneath the slide shutter

4. PLANNED HYDRO-TECHNICAL OBJECTS IN LARGE WESTERN LANDFILL 4.1 Projected channel in landfill, quickflow and regulation of Mezgrajica riverbed Projected channel in landfill is open and in shape of double trapezoid (figure 4). Clear view of normal profile provides the transportation of ten-thousand-years large water (Q1/10 000 = 210 m3/s). Also, this is the flow for which the gradient over dam is dimensioned so in case of eventual collapse of draining tunnel beneath the landfill the evacuation of catastrophic large water over the dam gradient and channel in landfill is provided.

Figure 4. Normal profile of the channel in the landfill

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In meanwhile, the landfill was filled with uncoated gully with irregular geometric elements and insufficient throughput which is not maintained the riverbed is not cleared, trees and other plants are not cut down, which also decreases the throughput of the riverbed. Bottleneck includes two tubular outputs on sections for trailing transportation. Elevations of bottom tubes on outputs are much higher than the channel bottom so large water upstream of these outputs causes back pressure and certain water accumulation, which can create the saturation of the landfill and its instability. Due to a need for larger landfill, it is needed to analyze the possibility of construction of closed channel in the landfill in the area of Crveni potok, or from the cross-section of the channel with path LWO Land mine, to the dam gradient. Building of closed reinforced concrete rectangle channel in the landfill could provide additional volume of landfill for 17.000.000 m 3 of solid mass. The analysis (according to [3]) of hydraulically morphological characteristics for two rectangular normal profiles and one circle profile was conducted. In static aspect, the most inappropriate is rectangular cross-section which has largest lengths while the circle profile is considered as the best. The basic issue is that the closed collector would be founded on unconsolidated landfill with lower physically mechanical characteristics in comparison with indigenous soil. Furthermore, in these conditions, it is needed to analyze forming of relieving layer according to Protoakonov, which can be used for decreasing of pressure on closed and covered collector and dimensions of concrete basis. After analysis, the construction of a circular reinforced concrete profile that has significant advantages over static rectangular and semi-circular profile is proposed. 4.2. River Ugljevik and Miia stream Considering their dispositional position, this water streams were not always directly connected with Large western landfill, so their first regulation was conducted according to natural riverbed. After the widening of the mine, these streams were moved. Because of irregular maintaining of natural and regulated riverbed, larger amounts of water infiltrated or overflowed into open mine. This water was returned by pumping (discharge pipe) into river Ugljevik which increased the use of power and production of coal. Additional problems in maintaining occurred due to landslides in this area.

5. CONCLUSION During reconnaissance of terrain nearby dam and reservoir and visual observation of available dam surfaces, it is concluded that there are no visible landslides, damages, movements or deformations on the dam and in the area of reservoir. No auscultations of the dam according to the existing auscultations project have been conducted yet although it was an obligation regarding legal regulations for high dams. Dam auscultations need to be conducted as soon as possible at least twice a year during the next period in order to define the object behaviour and deviations from project dimensions.

The radical reconstruction of closing chamber, slide shutters and their operation is needed in order to achieve maximum safety during operation and accumulation. All this is needed to obtain optimal use of water from the reservoir in order to fulfil needs of Mine/Rudnik. Also, in order to provide reconstruction work at the drainage tunnel, reconstruction works for closing chamber and slide shutters are prior needed. The construction of circle reinforced concrete profile is suggested. This profile has significant static benefits over rectangular and semicircular profiles. Since the disposed tailings is consolidated in channel area, dimensioning of closed circle reinforced concrete profile for onehundred large water is suggested in order to obtain significant savings. The construction of such profile would provide additional volume of the mine which could be approximately 17.000.000 m3 of solid mass. 6. REFERENCES [1] Anon.: Impact assessment study for designed and built complex hydraulic structures of LWO OP 'Bogutovo selo', Novi Sad, 2012. [2] Anon.: Preliminary and final project Regulation of Ugljevika river and Miia stream, Institute for Water Resources, Sarajevo, 1983. [3] Dr. Shahin: Hydrology, Delft, 1981. [4] Anon.: Preliminary project Protection of tailings landfills in valley of Mezgrajica river and open mine Bogutovo selo on the east side of surface water, Institute for Water Resources, Sarajevo 1984.