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Flow fields associated with in situ mineral leaching

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Lawrence K. Forbes ,
Anthony M. Watts  and
Graeme A. Chandler
Graeme A. Chandler
Affiliation:
Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and Parallel Computing (CIAMP), Department of Mathematics, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia
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Abstract

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A simple model for underground mineral leaching is considered, in which liquor is injected into the rock at one point and retrieved from the rock by being pumped out at another point. In its passage through the rock, the liquor dissolves some of the ore of interest, and this is therefore recovered in solution. When the injection and recovery points lie on a vertical line, the region of wetted rock forms an axi-symmetric plume, the surface of which is a free boundary. We present an accurate numerical method for the solution of the problem, and obtain estimates for the maximum possible recovery rate of the liquor, as a fraction of the injected flow rate. Limiting cases are discussed, and other geometries for fluid recovery are considered.

Type
Research Article
Information
The ANZIAM Journal , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , October 1994 , pp. 133 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Mathematical Society 1994

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