Modeling the seismic response of coal-waste tailings dams

Xiangwu Zeng, Jiaer Wu, Richard Rohlf

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Coal is often processed near coal mines to remove some impurities before it is transported to its users. Each year, millions of tons of refuse are generated and need to be stored in the coal producing regions. A typical coal-waste storage facility is a tailings dam which includes an embankment made of coarse refuse and impoundment slurry of fine refuse. Because of the high water content and low shear strength of the fine refuse, coal-waste tailings dams are vulnerable to earthquake induced failure. This article reports on a project to study the seismic response of coal-waste tailings dams using centrifuge modeling. Three tests were conducted on small scale models constructed by the down-stream or up-stream methods. The results of the model tests were used to study the mechanism of response and to compare with available design procedures.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)28-29
Number of pages2
JournalGeotechnical News
Volume16
Issue number2
StatePublished - Jun 1998

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