THE LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS OF HIGH-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE DRAINS FOR APPLICATION IN TAILINGS

Abstract

For the purposes of draining material deposited in the tailings pond under construction, there was aneed to examine the properties of the high-density polyethylene drain tubes and the consistingmaterials in order to assess their adequacy in the specific conditions. The conducted laboratoryinvestigations of the samples cut from the tubes included: determination of bulk density, tensilestrength in the tangential direction, as well as the compressive strength in a radial direction.Representative samples of the tubes themselves were tested in two different loading dispositions, inorder to record the load-deflection effects. The test results indicated the specific behavior of thetested material in service conditions.