Numerical Modeling of Cemented Mine Backfill Deposition
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 10
Abstract
In current underground mining practice, it is common to use tailings, without added cement, to fill mined-out voids (“stopes”). If fine-grained tailings are used, the high placement rates and low permeability can often result in undrained loading conditions and, hence, lower effective stress, when assessed in the conventional manner. Where cement is added, the cement modifies the consolidation characteristics in a number of ways, including increasing the strength and stiffness, reducing the permeability, and inducing volumetric changes associated with the hydration reactions leading to “self-desiccation.” As a result, conventional consolidation-analysis techniques are unsuitable for assessing the behavior. The one-dimensional mine-tailings-consolidation program (MinTaCo) has been modified, and renamed CeMinTaCo, to couple cement hydration with conventional consolidation analysis. The fundamental theory behind the modifications is presented. The model is used to undertake a sensitivity study, which highlights some of the important features of the behavior of cemented backfill, and shows how complex interactions between the various properties produce some outcomes that are counterintuitive.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 10 • October 2007
Pages: 1308 - 1319
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 10, 2006
Accepted: Mar 14, 2007
Published online: Oct 1, 2007
Published in print: Oct 2007
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