Cement-Enhancing Mechanical Behavior of Tailings Behind Upstream Tailings Dam for Safe Decommissioning
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 5
Abstract
Catastrophic failures of tailings dams, primarily due to liquefaction, have occurred in Brazil in the last few years. Mine tailings deposited behind upstream dams are materials of low in situ densities and strengths. To avoid future disasters, chemical improvement methodologies such as deep mixing and mass stabilization technologies are being studied as alternatives to be used before decommissioning for in situ improvements of upstream tailings dams with a high risk of collapse. The present research aims to analyze the mechanical behavior of reconstituted state gold tailings specimens, in contrast to artificially cemented gold mine tailings specimens, considering the use of small and large amounts of Portland cement under a similar high void ratio. The influence of Portland cement content in the stabilization of gold tailings specimens molded with their in-situ void ratio was evaluated through saturated undrained triaxial compression tests carried out under small confining pressures. A reduced amount of Portland cement (about ) was enough to avoid liquefaction (with the generation of negative pore-pressure), keeping the same unique critical state line (CSL) for reconstituted tailings and slightly cemented tailings specimens, with a gradient of 1.41. The use of high amounts of Portland cement insertion (75 and ) caused an alteration in the ultimate condition of the studied tailings, and changed to 2.36. Finally, the in-situ addition of Portland cement to tailings deposited behind upstream dams is an important alternative for the safe decommissioning of such structures.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, or models, used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to explicit their appreciation to FAPERGS–PRONEX (Project # 16/2551-0000469-2), MCT-CNPq (Editais INCT & Produtividade em Pesquisa), and CAPES (PROEX) for the support to the research group.
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Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 5 • May 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 30, 2021
Accepted: Aug 26, 2022
Published online: Feb 25, 2023
Published in print: May 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jul 25, 2023
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