Analysis of Uncertainty and Sensitivity in Tailings Dam Breach-Runout Numerical Modelling.

Unlabelled: Tailings dam breaches (TDBs) and subsequent flows can pose significant risk to public safety, the environment, and the economy. Numerical runout models are used to simulate potential tailings flows and understand their downstream impacts. Due to the complex nature of the breach-runout processes, the mobility and downstream impacts of these types of failures are highly uncertain.

A benchmarking study of four numerical runout models for the simulation of tailings flows.

Numerical runout models are important tools for predicting the potential downstream impacts of tailings dam breaches that generate tailings flows, which is a crucial step in emergency preparedness and planning, and risk management. Most existing runout models were originally developed for the analysis of water floods or flow-like landslides (e.g.