ANALYSIS OF THE EMBANKMENT DAM DEFORMATION DURING TAILING STORAGE RESERVOIR FILLING

Abstract

Relevance. Monitoring of earth-filled tailings dams deformation is an important element of industrial safety. The result of deformation monitoring is the defined displacement of dam surface or individual marks of the deformation network. However, not all displacements are dangerous. In this paper, the author justified the separation of displacements into slope deformations, which is a risk of dam failure, and subsidence due to compression of the underlying rock mass that are not dangerous. The purpose of the research is to assess the mechanical effect of the storing tailings on the surrounding earth-filled dam and the underlying rock mass; determine the prevailing nature of the observed deformation marks displacements – the dam ground layer sliding or subsidence of the earth's surface under the influence of the mass of stored mining waste. Research methods are geostatistical analysis of vertical and horizontal displacements of the deformation network marks. The displacements of the deformation marks were determined using GNSS measurements and leveling. Conclusions. It is established that the predominant type of displacements is subsidence. Horizontal displacements are equal to the level of measurement error. Investigation have shown that the observed displacements are not a result of the sliding of the earth-filled dam's material, but subsidence caused by compression of the rock mass under the influence of the weight of the tailings.

Keywords

• earth-filled tailings dams
• tailing storage
• dam failure
• slope stability
• deformation network