Abstract This article presents an experimental study performed to evaluate the volume of material released from the reservoir during a tailings dam failure event using models. To verify the influence of the parameters related to the breach geometry and the undrained shear strength (Su) in a failure event, 20 scenarios were simulated considering the absence of water in the reservoir. The material used to simulate tailings was bentonite, due to the similarity between the properties of the mud and mineral tailings sludge. Geometry and undrained shear strength were adjusted considering a scale factor of 1: 500. Regarding the studied parameters, the geometry of the breach was based on data from literature, whose lateral slopes were 0.50 H: 1V, 0.51 H: 1V and 0.5467 H: 1V in the trapezoidal breaches and 1: 1 (L / H = 0.97) and 1: 1 (L / H = 1.1) in the rectangular ones. The undrained shear strength ranged from 0.030 to 0.20 kPa. The results allowed to conclude that the mobilization of material increases with the average aperture width of the trapezoidal breach, being this the distinct behavior in rectangular breaches. Although the rectangular breaches had smaller average widths compared to the trapezoidal breaches, their base widths were larger and it is possible to infer that the mobilized volume depends on the geometry and the average width of the breach.

Resumo Este estudo tem por objetivo verificar a possibilidade de aproveitamento da água da chuva em uma indústria metalmecânica localizada no município de São José dos Pinhais, região metropolitana de Curitiba, considerando o volume de chuvas, necessidade da indústria, as características de qualidade da água de chuva da região, além de uma simulação da cobrança pelo uso da água e emissão dos seus efluentes lançados em um córrego próximo. Nesta avaliação, verificou-se que o aproveitamento da água de chuva pode ser viável devido ao comportamento hidrológico da região e a qualidade dessa água, verificada por ensaios de laboratório. Além disso, realizou-se uma simulação para estimar a provável economia ao se evitar o pagamento pela captação e emissão dos lançamentos nos corpos d’água da região, além do orçamento do reservatório proposto para o armazenamento da água de chuva.

Abstract This study aims to verify the possibility of rainwater use in a metal-mechanic industry in the municipality of São José dos Pinhais, metropolitan region of Curitiba, considering the rainfall and the characteristics of rainwater quality in the region, as well as the needs of this industry. A simulation of the charging for water use and emission of effluents into a nearby stream was also conducted. Results of this evaluation showed that the exploitation of rainwater might be feasible due to the hydrological behavior of the region and the quality of such water, which was verified by laboratory testing. In addition, a simulation was conducted to estimate the possible economy with respect to payment for water collection and effluent emission, as well as to the investment in the proposed reservoir for rainwater storage.