Estudo da influência da distribuição granulométrica dos finos de minério de ferro na liquefação durante o transporte marítimo

Abstract

In recent decades, many incidents with bulk carriers have occurred due to the liquefaction of solid bulk cargoes, with iron ore being responsible for the largest volume of solid cargo business in the world. The liquefaction of solid bulk cargoes in bulk carriers has been one of the main causes of serious accidents, including loss of life and vessels. iron ore fines (IOF) are products prepared from the refining of iron ore and were reclassified, in 2011, by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), as a liquefiable material of the ' A group'. Currently, the transportable moisture limit (TML) is the only parameter used by the IMO to minimize the risk of liquefaction of 'Group A' cargoes for maritime transport. In this thesis, two methodologies were proposed to investigate the liquefaction potential of IOF, the first methodology aimed to classify the liquefaction potential of IOF samples considering the TML and the Coulomb cohesion factor and the second methodology aimed to use the table test of vibration for analysis of the liquefaction potential of the IOF through proposed indicators. The studies were performed with IOF samples prepared with particle sizes from 9.5 mm to 25 µm in different fines contents (particles < 150 µm) and moisture. In the first part of the thesis, the direct shear tests showed that the addition of fines content in the IOF samples provides great influence on the shear strength. It was also observed, through the Proctor/Fagerberg test and the flow table test, that the addition of fines content in the IOF samples produced an increase in TML. These results were used to propose a methodology for classifying the liquefaction potential of IOF. In the second part of the thesis, the modified Proctor/Fagerberg test showed that there is a transition fine content for the TML. Through the experimental methodology proposed for the vibration table test, it was observed that the liquefaction potential of the IOF has a correlation with the migration of moisture to the surface and values of void ratio, degree of saturation and density are equivalent to the methodology of modified Proctor/Fagerberg test compression. It ends with the proposition of the indicators, Ip and ISWC, which are useful parameters to evaluate the potential for liquefaction of IOF in samples with different contents of fines and moisture; for the tested IOF, Ip ≤ 3.63 indicated that there was no liquefaction and ISWC > 0 indicated liquefaction.