Evaluation of thixotropic behaviors of tailings pastes as a function of solids concentration

Tailings pastes are high-concentration mixtures and exhibit complex thixotropy. This study is to investigate the equilibrium and transient thixotropic behaviours of tailings pastes via a series of constant shear rate tests. The thixotropic model proposed by ZHANG et al is utilized to analyze the effect of solids concentration on thixotropy of tailings pastes. The empirical functions that represent the relationship between equilibrium rheological parameters and solids concentrations is proposed. Meanwhile, a time-dependent model is established to characterize the effect of solids content on the transient shear stress. These functions enable the quantitative analysis of concentration-dependent equilibrium and transient stress evolution for tailings pastes.