A Numerical Investigation of the Seismic Response of Tailings Impoundments Reinforced with Waste Rock Inclusions

RÉSUMÉ La fréquence de rupture des digues de parcs à résidus miniers est beaucoup plus élevée, par un facteur de 10, que celle des ouvrages de retenue d’eau conventionnels, avec 2 à 3 événements majeurs se produisant annuellement surtout le monde. Une des conséquences de ces ruptures (avec brèche) est l’écoulement de résidus liquéfié. Ces écoulements (ou épanchements) sont responsables de pertes de vie, de dommages à l’environnement et de coûts financiers considérables; ils représentent à cet égard un des principaux risques liés aux opérations minières. Les résidus miniers produits par les mines en roches dures sont particulièrement susceptibles à la liquéfaction (i.e. un perte quasi-complète de résistance due à un chargement dynamique ou statique), pouvant alors causer une rupture (p. ex. durant un séisme) ou être une conséquence de la rupture (p. ex. suite à une défaillance de la fondation qui réduit le confinement). Aubertin et al. (2002b) ont proposé d’ajouter des inclusions de roches stériles dans les parcs à résidus, conjointement avec la déposition des rejets de concentrateur, afin d’améliorer leur performance environnementale et géotechnique. La roche stérile est ainsi placée de façon à créer des inclusions continues le long des orientations prédéfinies dans le parc. Il a alors été postulé que ces inclusions pourraient induire divers bénéfices, notamment en accélérant la consolidation des résidus et en agissant comme renforcement pour mieux résister aux sollicitations statiques et sismiques.----------ABSTRACT The rate of failure of tailings impoundments is much larger, by a factor of about 10, than that of conventional water retention dams, occurring at a rate of about 2 to 3 per year worldwide. A primary consequence of the failure of a tailings impoundment is the flow of liquefied tailings. Such flows have been responsible for considerable loss of life, environmental damages and economic costs and represent one of the major risks associated with mining. Tailings, specifically those from hard rock mines, are particularly susceptible to liquefaction (a significant loss of shear strength) that can cause failure of the retention dyke and the release of liquefied tailings. Tailings liquefaction can be induced in dynamic loads, such as earthquakes, or static loads, such as dyke raising, erosion (loss of confining stress) or foundation movement. Aubertin et al. (2002b) considered placing waste rock in tailings impoundments in tandem with tailings deposition to improve the environmental and geotechnical performance of the impoundments. The waste rock would be placed to create relatively narrow, continuous inclusions along planned routes in the impoundment. It was postulated that these waste rock inclusions would provide a number of benefits, particularly by accelerating the consolidation of the tailings and acting to reinforce the impoundment with respect to static and seismic loads

Numerical simulations of seismic and post-seismic behavior of tailings

Several tailings impoundments have failed as a result of earthquakes in the last few decades. A majority of these failures were due to direct seismic loading, tailings liquefaction during shaking, or the post-seismic behavior of the tailings as it relates to the dissipation of excess pore-water pressures that were generated during shaking. Previous work has indicated that the UBCSAND model developed by Byrne et al. in 1995 is capable of simulating the cyclic simple shear testing response of low-plasticity tailings over a range of consolidation stresses and cyclic shear ratios. However, the ability of the model to simulate the dynamic and subsequent behavior of such tailings for other conditions, such those induced by shaking table tests, has not yet been evaluated. In this regard, previous work has shown that the main components of the UBCSAND model cannot realistically simulate some specific responses, including the post-seismic volumetric strains related to excess pore-water pressure dissipation. This paper presents numerical modeling results of the dynamic behavior of tailings from hard rock mines. It introduces a method for simulating their post-seismic behavior by including an updating scheme for the elastic moduli into the UBCSAND model. The results of cyclic simple shear testing, seismic table testing, and complementary experimental relationships were used to calibrate and validate the model with its new component. The simulated response of tailings during cyclic simple shear testing and for a complete seismic table test shows that the proposed approach simulates the experimental observations well. Level-ground, seismically induced liquefaction and post-seismic behavior of a 15 m thick tailings deposit are also simulated, leading to post-liquefaction settlements that are in agreement with empirical relationships. </jats:p

Validation of dynamic block displacement analysis and modification of edge-to-edge contact constraints in 3-D DDA

The validity of three-dimensional discontinuous deformation analysis (3-D DDA) is examined by comparing its solution for dynamic block displacement with an analytical solution. Displacement of a single block on inclined planes subjected to dynamic loadings is studied for analytical solutions derived with respect to the frictional resistance offered by the planes. 3-D DDA predicts accurately the analytical displacements, and the results were found sensitive to the maximum displacement ratio, and the size of the time step, which are defined by the user. Best results were achieved when the actual displacements were approximately equal to the assumed maximum displacements per time step. Furthermore, edge-to-edge contact constraints have been improved by using the augmented Lagrangian method instead of the penalty method. Using the augmented Lagrangian method to enforce contact restraints retains the simplicity of the penalty method, and reduces its disadvantages. The new formulation of edge-to-edge contact using the augmented Lagrangian method is implemented in 3-D DDA and has been programmed in VC++. Finally two illustrative examples are presented for demonstrating this new approach. Crown Copyright © 2008

Effect of waste rock inclusions on the seismic stability of an upstream raised tailings impoundment: A numerical investigation

© 2015, National Research Council of Canada. All rights reserved. Over the years, seismic activity has been a relatively common cause of tailings impoundment failure. The flow of liquefied tailings from such ruptures can result in very severe consequences, including loss of life and environmental damage. A co-disposal technique consisting of placing waste rock inclusions in tailings impoundments prior to and during tailings deposition was proposed by the authors. The waste rock is placed to create continuous inclusions within the impoundment, which provide a number of environmental and geotechnical benefits, particularly with respect to seismic stability. The results of numerical simulations previously performed have shown that the UBCSAND model can predict the seismic response of tailings. The UBCSAND constitutive model was used to conduct simulations to evaluate of the use of waste rock inclusions to improve the seismic stability of a tailings impoundment. The evaluation consists of numerical analyses of an actual tailings impoundment as constructed (without inclusions), and then assuming that it was constructed with inclusions, subjected to earthquake loads of various energy contents and with different predominant frequencies. The analyses were conducted in static, seismic, and post-shaking phases. The displacement of the surface of downstream slope of the tailings dyke was recorded during the analyses. The results indicate that the presence of waste rock inclusions can significantly improve the seismic behavior of the impoundment by reducing the displacements of the surface of the downstream slope and the extent of potential failure zones. Also, the results show that in most cases, the influence of a low-frequency earthquake on the displacement of the downstream slope of the tailings dyke is more important than that of a high-frequency earthquake. The performances of the tailings impoundment with different configurations of waste rock inclusions (varying width and center-to-center spacing) were classified based on the average normalized horizontal displacement of the downstream slope (ARx) for a range input ground motions. Charts were then developed to show how ARx is influenced by the total width of inclusions, their spacing, and the input ground motions

Numerical simulations of seismic and post-seismic behavior of tailings

© 2015, National Research Council of Canada. All rights reserved. Several tailings impoundments have failed as a result of earthquakes in the last few decades. A majority of these failures were due to direct seismic loading, tailings liquefaction during shaking, or the post-seismic behavior of the tailings as it relates to the dissipation of excess pore-water pressures that were generated during shaking. Previous work has indicated that the UBCSAND model developed by Byrne et al. in 1995 is capable of simulating the cyclic simple shear testing response of low-plasticity tailings over a range of consolidation stresses and cyclic shear ratios. However, the ability of the model to simulate the dynamic and subsequent behavior of such tailings for other conditions, such those induced by shaking table tests, has not yet been evaluated. In this regard, previous work has shown that the main components of the UBCSAND model cannot realistically simulate some specific responses, including the post-seismic volumetric strains related to excess pore-water pressure dissipation. This paper presents numerical modeling results of the dynamic behavior of tailings from hard rock mines. It introduces a method for simulating their post-seismic behavior by including an updating scheme for the elastic moduli into the UBCSAND model. The results of cyclic simple shear testing, seismic table testing, and complementary experimental relationships were used to calibrate and validate the model with its new component. The simulated response of tailings during cyclic simple shear testing and for a complete seismic table test shows that the proposed approach simulates the experimental observations well. Level-ground, seismically induced liquefaction and post-seismic behavior of a 15 m thick tailings deposit are also simulated, leading to post-liquefaction settlements that are in agreement with empirical relationships

Strength degradation of sandstone and granodiorite under uniaxial cyclic loading

Change in mechanical properties of rocks under static loading has been widely studied and documented. However, the response of rocks to cyclic loads is still a much-debated topic. Fatigue is the phenomenon when rocks under cyclic loading fail at much lower strength as compared to those subjected to the monotonic loading conditions. A few selected cored granodiorite and sandstone specimens have been subjected to uniaxial cyclic compression tests to obtain the unconfined fatigue strength and life. This study seeks to examine the effects of cyclic loading conditions, loading amplitude and applied stress level on the fatigue life of sandstone, as a soft rock, and granodiorite, as a hard rock, under uniaxial compression test. One aim of this study is to determine which of the loading conditions has a stronger effect on rock fatigue response. The fatigue response of hard rocks and soft rocks is also compared. It is shown that the loading amplitude is the most important factor affecting the cyclic response of the tested rocks. The more the loading amplitude, the shorter the fatigue life, and the greater the strength degradation. The granodiorite specimens showed more strength degradation compared to the sandstone specimens when subjected to cyclic loading. It is shown that failure modes of specimens under cyclic loadings are different from those under static loadings. More local cracks were observed under cyclic loadings especially for granodiorite rock specimens

Investigating N-Butanol and Ethyl Acetate Fractions of Nigella Sativa on Motoneurons’ Density of Spinal Cord Ventral Horn in Rats with Compressived Injury of Sciatic Nerve

Introduction: Sciatic nerve compression is one of the factors that may cause the cell body degeneration of the alpha-motoneurons of spinal cord ventral horn. Nigella sativa belongs to the family of Ranunculaceae which owns numerous pharmacological properties. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the neuro-protective effects of n-butanol and ethyl acetate fractions of Nigella sativa on motoneurons’ density of Spinal Cord Ventral Horn in Rats undergoing compressived injury of sciatic nerve. Methods: In this study, 24 Wistar male rats with average body weight of 250gr to 300gr were divided into four groups of six: control, compression, A(compression + n-butanol fraction 75mg/kg) and B(compression+ethyl acetate fraction75mg/kg). In compression and treatment groups, sciatic nerve of the right leg underwent compression (30sec). In fact, the extract was injected intraperitoneally twice after the compression. After 28days, lumbar segments of spinal cord L2-L4 were sampled under perfusion method. After going through tissue processes, they were cut in serial sections (7µ), and stained with toluidine blue. Then, the density of alpha-motoneurons of spinal cord ventral horn was measured by using dissector method. Conclusion: The study findings revealed that n-butanol fraction of Nigella sativa caused an increase in neuronal density which posesses neuroprotective effects. This could be due to antioxidant and anti inflammatory effects of this herb. However, increases in neuronal density in ethyl acetate fraction didn’t prove to be significant

Comparison Between Hydraulic and Hydro-Mechanical Analyses for Estimating Flow Rate in Rock Masses: Case Study: Upper Gotvand Dam Foundation - Iran

Water flow through fractured rock masses is one of the important topics in civil, mining and environmental engineering fields. In order to estimate accurately water flow rate in fractured rock media, it is crucial to take into account the Hydro-Mechanical (HM) coupling processes occurring between the solid body of rock fractures and fluid flow. In this study, differences between HM analysis, considering HM coupling interactions, and hydraulic analysis have been investigated through numerical models as well as in a large scale model of Upper Gotvand dam foundation as a case study. The results show that flow rates obtained from HM analysis are significantly higher than those obtained from hydraulic analysis since in HM analysis the change of water pressure can lead to aperture change. In this regard, two different behaviours can be seen for a fracture: (a) if the water pressure exceeds in a fracture compared to the overburden load, the fracture aperture increases, and such condition can be seen at depth less than 40 meters for the studied case; (b) if the overburden load on the fracture is higher than the water pressure, the fracture aperture decreases as seen at depth greater than 40 m in the studied case. The changes in fracture apertures lead to a flow regime in the fractured rock mass different from the one predicted using hydraulic analysis. The results of the study were applied to design of the Dam foundation and abutments. Comparison Between Hydraulic and Hydro-Mechanical Analyses for Estimating Flow Rate in Rock Masses: Case Study: Upper Gotvand Dam Foundation - Iran. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308962271_Comparison_Between_Hydraulic_and_Hydro-Mechanical_Analyses_for_Estimating_Flow_Rate_in_Rock_Masses_Case_Study_Upper_Gotvand_Dam_Foundation_-_Iran [accessed Oct 09 2017]

Investigation of the Effect of Waste Rock Inclusions Configuration on the Seismic Performance of a Tailings Impoundment

© 2015, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. Waste rock inclusions can improve the seismic response of tailings impoundments, mainly through their reinforcing effect. Preliminary simulations of reinforced impoundments illustrated how such inclusions can be beneficial for impoundments subjected to earthquake loadings. This paper presents new results of numerical analyses of the seismic performance of a tailings impoundment with different configurations of waste rock inclusions (i.e. various widths and center-to-center spacings). The simulations were conducted using two base ground motion records, one characterized by high frequencies typical of the east coast of North America and the other characterized by low frequencies typical of the west coast. Both ground motions were scaled to obtain the same Arias intensity and peak horizontal ground acceleration. The seismic response of the tailings impoundment was evaluated using (1) the deformation of the downstream slope at the end of shaking, with respect to the energy content and predominant frequency of the applied ground motions, as well as the configuration of the inclusions, (2) the critically displaced volume of tailings at the end of shaking. A total of 108 dynamic numerical simulations were conducted and evaluated. The main results presented here show that waste rock inclusions can enhance significantly the seismic performance of a tailings impoundment when appropriate configurations are considered. These also indicate that the low frequency ground motions tend to produce larger deformations and greater critically displaced volumes of tailings in comparison with the high frequency ground motions. These simulations results provide preliminary guidelines to determine optimum configurations of waste rock inclusions for different seismic loadings