Consolidation and static-dynamical stability of upstream tailings dam

The influence of gravel pile foundation reinforcement for the initial tailing dam of goldmine of Sifang Company on the dam stability is investigated. First, the foundation of the initial tailings dam is strengthened by combining the stopper layer with the gravel pile reinforcing system. The variation of the degree of consolidation with time for the gravel pile at different depths is revealed using the drainage consolidation method. The optimal reinforcing scheme is proposed. Second, based on the actual and experimental data, the seepage behavior is analyzed inversely by means of SEEP3D. Furthermore, by using the effective stress method in the EFES-3D software, static and dynamic stability of the dam is calculated and the slope stability is analyzed. The results show that gravel pile foundation reinforcement may lead to increase of the settlement and decrease of the dam slope displacement. It provides a method for reducing the possibility of the dam liquefaction and improving the stability against sliding of tailings dam.