The volume change and shear strength behaviour of tailings slurry with the changes in gravimetric moisture content is important to effectively utilise the storage volume and analysis of dam failure potential. Consolidation testing of tailings from a slurry-like to soil-like state is a critical task, and conventional consolidation apparatus does not have the capability of doing such testing, as the tailings slurries contain high water content. Settling tests conducted on slurries having a 25% solids concentration showed very low efficiency; final sediment was still slurry-like. An intrinsic point was identified based on pore water pressure dissipation during consolidation tests in a slurry consolidometer that can define two states of the tailings i.e. slurry-like and soil-like. In the slurry-like state, the volume change was greater for Slurry 2 than Slurry 1, while the inverse was observed in the soil-like state. The evolution of peak vane shear strength with the changes in moisture content was almost similar for both samples and obeyed the power function. Regression models have been developed and validated to predict the shear strength of materials at any gravimetric moisture content or void ratio.

随着重量水分含量的变化，尾矿浆的体积变化和抗剪强度特性对于有效利用存储量和分析大坝的破坏潜力具有重要意义。从尾矿状到土壤状的尾矿固结测试是一项关键任务，并且传统的固结设备不具备进行此类测试的能力，因为尾矿浆包含高水含量。对固体含量为25％的浆液进行的沉降测试显示效率非常低；最终的沉积物仍然是浆状的。根据固结试验中固结测试期间孔隙水压力的耗散确定了一个内在点，该固结仪可以定义尾矿的两种状态，即浆状和土状。在浆状的状态下 泥浆2的体积变化大于泥浆1，而在类似土壤的状态下观察到相反的变化。两个样品的峰值叶片剪切强度随水分含量的变化几乎相似，并且服从幂函数。已经开发出回归模型并进行了验证，可以预测在任何重量水分或空隙比下材料的剪切强度。