Static liquefaction as a possible explanation for the Merriespruit tailings dam failure: Discussion

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1439-1440
Author(s):  
Lech S Brzezinski
Keyword(s):  
Dam Failure ◽  
Tailings Dam ◽  
Static Liquefaction

Static liquefaction as a possible explanation for the Merriespruit tailings dam failure: Reply

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1441-1442
Author(s):  
A B Fourie ◽  
G E Blight ◽  
G Papageorgiou
Keyword(s):  
Dam Failure ◽  
Tailings Dam ◽  
Static Liquefaction

Static liquefaction as a possible explanation for the Merriespruit tailings dam failure

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 707-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
A B Fourie ◽  
G E Blight ◽  
G Papageorgiou
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Companion Paper ◽  
Dam Failure ◽  
Triaxial Tests ◽  
Tailings Dam ◽  
Failure Investigation ◽  
Static Liquefaction ◽  
Gold Tailings

In 1994 the Merriespruit gold tailings dam in South Africa failed, resulting in 17 deaths. The post-failure investigation provided no explanation as to why the catastrophic flow failure, which contradicted all previous experiences of failures of gold tailings dams in South Africa, occurred. The documented history of the dam describes insufficient freeboard provision and often poor pool control, which is argued to have resulted in some areas of the dam having high in situ void ratios. Some of the undrained triaxial tests carried out on specimens obtained from zones adjacent to the failure scar exhibited nondilative behaviour. Laboratory triaxial tests that were conducted on reconstituted specimens and are reported in a companion paper defined a series of steady state lines that were dependent on the particle-size distribution of the tailings. Void ratios obtained from undisturbed samples taken during the post-failure investigation are compared with these steady state lines and it is shown that an appreciable percentage of the specimens were likely to have been contractant. The inference drawn is that a large volume of tailings was in a metastable state in situ and overtopping and erosion of the impoundment wall exposed this material, resulting in static liquefaction of the tailings and a consequent flow failure.Key words: static liquefaction, gold tailings, Merriespruit, failure.

POLYGON WALL BOUNDARY MODEL IN PARTICLE-BASED METHOD: APPLICATION TO BRUMADINHO TAILINGS DAM FAILURE

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubens Augusto Amaro Junior ◽  
Lucas Soares Pereira ◽  
Liang-Yee Cheng ◽  
Ahmad Shakibaeinia
Keyword(s):  
Dam Failure ◽  
Tailings Dam ◽  
Wall Boundary ◽  
Boundary Model ◽  
Polygon Wall Boundary Model

scholarly journals The tailings dam failure of 5 November 2015 in SE Brazil and its preceding seismic sequence

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 4929-4936 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Agurto‐Detzel ◽  
M. Bianchi ◽  
M. Assumpção ◽  
M. Schimmel ◽  
B. Collaço ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dam Failure ◽  
Tailings Dam ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Se Brazil

Some lessons from a recent tailings dam failure

2009 ◽  
pp. 343-352
Author(s):  
J.-C. Ballard ◽  
Berghe J.-F. Vanden ◽  
R. A. Jewell ◽  
M. Pirson
Keyword(s):  
Dam Failure ◽  
Tailings Dam

River system recovery following the Novaţ-Roşu tailings dam failure, Maramureş County, Romania

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3498-3518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Bird ◽  
Paul A. Brewer ◽  
Mark G. Macklin ◽  
Dan Balteanu ◽  
Mihaela Serban ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River System ◽  
Dam Failure ◽  
Tailings Dam

scholarly journals Integration of DSM and SPH to Model Tailings Dam Failure Run-Out Slurry Routing Across 3D Real Terrain

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Wang ◽  
Peng Yang ◽  
Karen Hudson-Edwards ◽  
Wensheng Lyu ◽  
Chao Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Modelling ◽  
Physical Modelling ◽  
Dam Failure ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Tailings Dam ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Sph Method ◽  
Tailings Pond ◽  
Dam Failures ◽  
Modelling Experiment

Tailings dam failure accidents occur frequently, causing substantial damage and loss of human and animal life. The prediction of run-out tailings slurry routing following dam failures is of great significance for disaster prevention and mitigation. Using satellite remote sensing digital surface model (DSM) data, tailings pond parameters and the advanced meshless smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, a 3D real-scale numerical modelling method was adopted to study the run-out tailings slurry routing across real downstream terrains that have and have not been affected by dam failures. Three case studies, including a physical modelling experiment, the 2015 Brazil Fundão tailings dam failure accident and an operating high-risk tailings pond in China, were carried out. The physical modelling experiment and the known consequences were successfully modeled and validated using the SPH method. This and the other experiments showed that the run-out tailings slurry would be tremendously destructive in the early stages of dam failure, and emergency response time would be extremely short if the dam collapses at its full designed capacity. The results could provide evidence for disaster prevention and mitigation engineering, emergency management plan optimization, and the development of more responsible site plans and sustainable site designs. However, improvements such as rheological model selection, terrain data quality, computing efficiency and land surface roughness need to be made for future studies. SPH numerical modelling is a powerful and advanced technique that is recommended for hazard assessment and the sustainable design of tailings dam facilities globally.

Study of Fuzzy Random Reliability Model of Tailings Dam under Earthquake Action

2010 ◽  
Vol 44-47 ◽  
pp. 3393-3397
Author(s):  
Fei Yue Wang ◽  
Long Jun Dong ◽  
Zhi Sheng Xu
Keyword(s):  
Zero Point ◽  
Reliability Theory ◽  
Dam Failure ◽  
Tailings Dam ◽  
Tailing Dam ◽  
Calculation Results ◽  
Earthquake Action ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Fuzzy Random

Two kinds of the deficiencies exist in the traditional dam reliability and the safety coefficient calculation methods. First, it is impossible to give accurate mean to design variable in case study, because to large extent, means are greatly influenced by many objective factors or man-made effects, which degree of effects has greater degree of ambiguity. Second, the traditional reliability theory takes zero point as measure of dam’s failure or not, and on both sides of zero point the structure of state mutants from security to failure. But in fact, it’s very hard to give a definite limitation to the dam state from security to failure, because a fuzzy scope exists between stability and failure. On the basis of solving the above two issues, this paper for the first time applies fuzzy reliability theory to the stability research of tailings dam under earthquake action , considering fuzziness of both the event of tailings dam failure and the main variables and parameter. Integrating fuzziness and randomness, this paper explores fuzzy random reliability analysis methods of tailings dam engineering. The results of case study show that the calculation results agree well with the actual situation, this analysis method is more scientific and reasonable than traditional dam safety factor calculation method, and better reflects the real situation. It also provides a new way to calculate stability of tailing dam considering earthquake action.

Defining an appropriate steady state line for Merriespruit gold tailings

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 695-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
A B Fourie ◽  
G Papageorgiou
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Companion Paper ◽  
Tailings Dam ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Failure Investigation ◽  
Static Liquefaction ◽  
Flow Failure ◽  
Undrained Loading ◽  
Gold Tailings

Failure of the Merriespruit gold tailings dam in 1994 in South Africa was unusual in that never before had a gold tailings dam in South Africa failed in such a catastrophic fashion. Conventional thinking was that gold tailings would always exhibit dilative characteristics upon loading, primarily because of the method of deposition which allows significant consolidation to occur due to sun-drying. This paper demonstrates that the concept of a steady state line, which separates dilative from contractive behaviour upon undrained loading, is applicable to Merriespruit tailings. Four particle-size distributions of Merriespruit tailings were tested to determine the influence of the percent finer than 75 µm on the position of the steady state line. The tailings with the greater percentage of fines gave a steady state line that plotted above all the others, which translated to the requirement that a greater relative density was necessary to produce noncontractive behaviour than for the low-fines tailings samples. The difficulty of defining a unique steady state line for a particular tailings, due to errors in measurement of initial sizes, is illustrated and it is recommended that error bands be assigned to any steady state line. In a companion paper, evidence from the post-failure investigation is combined with the test results in this paper to explore the likelihood of static liquefaction as the cause of the Merriespruit flow failure.Key words: static liquefaction, tailings, steady state, flow failure.

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