The rheological behaviour of cemented paste backfill (CPB) has an important influence on the stability of its transportation in pipelines. In the present study, the time-dependent rheological behaviour of CPB was investigated to elucidate the effects of time and solid content. Experimental results showed that when CPB is subjected to a constant shear rate, the shear stress gradually decreases with time before finally stabilis ing. When the solid content was 60%~62%, a liquid network structure was the main factor that influenced the thixotropy of CPB, and the solid content had less influence. When the solid content was 64%~66%, a floc network structure was the main factor that influenced the thixotropy of CPB, and the solid content had a more significant influence on the thixotropy than the shear rate. The initial structural stability of CPB increased with the solid content, and this relationship can be described by a power function. Based on the experimental results, a calculation model of pipeline resistance considering thixotropy was proposed. The model was validated by using industrial experimental data. The current study can serve as a design reference for CPB pipeline transportation.

In wastewater treatment plants, large pumps are often used to accommodate unknown hydraulic properties of solid-water mixture flow. The use of large pumps translates into higher purchasing and operating costs. Wastewater mixture is pumped with solids of different types and concentrations through pipelines. The design of these ducts is mainly based on the hydraulic laws of solid-water mixture which is represented by a corrected friction coefficient corresponding to the concentration of solids in water. This paper experimentally studies hydraulic properties of solid-water mixtures in pipelines by the varying Froude number (Fr), which represents the velocity mixture, solid concentration, pipeline diameter and pipeline material type-roughness coefficient. The experiments have been conducted in the wastewater treatment plant where six solid concentrations can be found ranging from 2 to 12% by weight. The pipe diameter ranges between 100 to 300 mm. It has been found that both the friction coefficient and the hydraulic gradient ameliorate with the increase of the pipeline roughness and the solids concentration in the water mixture, whereas the Fr drop with the diameter of the pipeline. The results are translated into curves and equations to predict the corrected pipeline friction coefficient and the hydraulic gradient of the solid-water mixture flow through horizontal pipelines at various solids concentrations, roughness and diameters.