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ABSTRACT
On November 5 2015, roughly 32 million cubic metres of iron mine tailings were accidentally released in the catastrophic
collapse of the Fundão dam in Minas Gerais, Brazil. A comprehensive static liquefaction analysis is performed in this study
on a section of the Fundão dam's left abutment prior to failure in order to determine the dam's susceptibility to liquefaction
and undrained strength loss under its ultimate loading condition. The method implemented accounts for variations in mode
of shear and anisotropic consolidation along the failure surface, as well as for the plane-strain boundary condition normally
encountered in the field. After convergence in this iterative method, all slices in the LEA model are found to have liquefied,
and the factor of safety for liquefaction flow failure in that section of the dam is determined to be 0.73.
RESUME
Le 5 novembre 2015, environ 32 millions de mètres cubes de résidus miniers de fer ont été relâchés accidentellement lors
de l'effondrement catastrophique du barrage Fundão à Minas Gerais, au Brésil. Une analyse exhaustive du déclenchement
de la liquéfaction statique est effectuée dans cette étude sur une section du pilier gauche du barrage de Fundão avant
l'échec afin de déterminer la susceptibilité du barrage à la liquéfaction et à la perte de résistance non drainée dans son
état de chargement ultime. La méthode mise en œuvre explique les variations de mode de cisaillement et de consolidation
anisotropique le long de la surface de défaillance, ainsi que pour les conditions limite de contrainte plane normalement
rencontrées sur le terrain. Après la convergence dans cette méthode itérative, toutes les tranches du modèle de l’analyse
d’équilibre limite se sont révélées liquéfiées et le facteur de sécurité pour l'échec du flux de liquéfaction dans cette section
du barrage est déterminé comme étant de 0.73.
1.2 Problem Statement and Objective Liquefaction triggering analysis of the left abutment of the
Fundão embankment is carried out in this study by means
Static liquefaction, the cause of failure for the Fundão dam of a series of Limit Equilibrium Analyses (LEA) using
as noted by Morgenstern et al. (2016), occurs when the GeoSlope's SLOPE/W®. The main goal was to
shear stress applied by a monotonic triggering load demonstrate the attainment of an accurate and refined
exceeds the undrained yield strength of a saturated factor of safety for the embankment prior to its failure in
liquefiable cohesionless material (Sadrekarimi 2016). 2015. This section describes the analysis of the
Figure 1 shows effective stress paths from two undrained characterization and strength parameters of Fundão’s
triaxial compression tests on loose Monterey #0 sand tailings required for computer modelling of the failing slope
specimens (Riemer 1992). The specimens were and the static liquefaction analysis conducted. No attempt
consolidated to similar void ratios (ec), but at different is made to determine strains or displacements as this
consolidation stress ratios (Kc = '3c/'1c) of 1 (isotropic would require a more sophisticated Finite Element Analysis
consolidation) and 0.5 (anisotropic consolidation). As (FEA), which currently falls outside the scope of this
illustrated in Figure 1, undrained strength loss occurs once investigation.
an undrained yield strength, su(yield) is overcome for each
specimen. Therefore, su(yield) marks the triggering 2.1 Fundão Tailings Material Properties and
condition for static liquefaction. Strain softening continues Deposition Cycle
with further shear displacement until an undrained post-
liquefaction strength, su(liq) is reached. A liquefaction flow As mentioned earlier, the tailings materials found in
failure would result if su(liq) drops below the applied shear Fundão dam consisted of two different types, namely sand
stress. and slime tailings. The sand was a silty sand (SM) with a
bulk unit weight of 19 kN/m3 that showed no cohesion, was
free-draining in nature, and depending on its density and
300 saturation level was susceptible to liquefaction. In contrast,
Undrained TxC tests on Monterey #0 sand the iron slimes consisted of a low-plastic silt and clay (CL-
(based on data from Riemer 1992)
Undrained strength, su (kPa)
250 su(yield) ML) with liquid and plastic limits of 26% and 19%,
Kc = 0.5, ec = 0.822 CSL IL respectively, and with low permeability that impeded the
200 free flow of water. Figure 2 shows the average particle size
su(liq)
distributions of these materials.
150
tc = 176 kPa
100
100
50
Kc = 1.0, ec = 0.832
0 80
0 75 150 225 300 375 450
Minor effective principal stress, '3 (kPa)
Figure 1: Effective stress paths from undrained triaxial
Finer (%)
60
compression tests on Monterey #0 sand
40
An evaluation of the Fundão investigation report by
Morgenstern et al. (2016) indicates that a typical
20 Sands
liquefaction triggering analysis was conducted, whereby
undrained yield strengths of the cohesionless tailings were Slimes
determined by empirical correlations based on in-situ 0
penetration tests. However, as noted by Sadrekarimi 10 1 0.1 0.01 0.001
(2016), these correlations do not account for the effects of Particle size (mm)
anisotropic consolidation, intermediate principal stress, Figure 2: Average particle size distributions of sand and
and modes of shear in the degree of strain-softening and slime tailings at Fundão dam
brittleness of cohesionless soils. Hence, to accurately
2.3 Static Liquefaction Triggering Analysis Method
Because of their contrasting features, the main design
basis for Fundão dam was to maintain the separation of A liquefaction triggering analysis assists in determining
these two materials. Characterization and strength whether an undrained strength loss could occur in a loose
properties for both materials were obtained from laboratory cohesionless soil under a given loading condition
and in-situ test results conducted by Morgenstern et al. (Sadrekarimi 2016). This is accomplished by comparing
(2016). Cone penetration test (CPT) readings from the field loading conditions with su(yield) under which strain-
investigation report were primarily used to determine the softening occurs.
in-situ undrained strength of the tailings in conjunction with The undrained strength of loose tailings is conveniently
the analytical method described in a later section. characterized by undrained strength ratios: the undrained
yield strength ratio (su(yield)/'vo) and the undrained post-
2.2 Dam Geometry liquefaction strength ratio (su(liq)/'vo). These ratios, which
consist of the respective undrained strength normalized by
A key element in the reconstruction of the dam's geometry the in-situ effective vertical stress prior to failure ('vo), have
and its materials for LEA is the determination of the found great use in the characterization of shear strength in
deposition cycles and layers of slimes and sands. In order laboratory testing and back-calculation of shear strength in
to estimate the extent of slimes, the combination of data liquefaction case studies (Been and Jeffries 1985; Olson
collected by Morgenstern et al. (2016) is used. The slimes and Stark 2003; Stark and Mesri 1992; Robertson 2010;
boundaries identified represented areas where slime Sadrekarimi and Olson 2011). Using the geotechnical data
layers could have been present due to the ingress of pond assessed from Morgenstern et al. (2016), this study
water over the sloping sand deposit. A mass balance employs the method of analysis proposed by Sadrekarimi
analysis conducted by Morgenstern et al. (2016) better (2016) to estimate su(yield)/'vo and su(liq)/'vo and the
defines the stratigraphy of the slimes, with a gradual factor of safety (FS) for liquefaction flow failure analysis of
transition from predominantly slimes to isolated slimes Fundão dam. This method consists of an iterative LEA
moving upslope towards the crest. procedure, in which the mobilized shear stresses are
The slope geometry, geotechnical and hydrogeological compared against the undrained shear strength for slices
parameters, dam-raise and deposition time histories, and below the water level, accounting for the effects of mode of
CPT results were obtained from Morgenstern et al. (2016). shear, plane-strain boundary conditions, and initial stress
This information was used for the development of the anisotropy (Kc). Where slices of a particular LEA mobilize
computer model for Fundão dam’s left abutment profile stresses lower than the base su(yield), the estimated
prior to failure as shown in Figure 3. GeoSlope’s su(yield) is assigned at the base of that slice. If slices
SLOPE/W® software was used to define the dam section mobilize stresses higher that the base s u(yield), static
and carry out the set of analyses. liquefaction is deemed to have occurred and su(liq)
estimated from a correlation with in-situ test results is
assigned. Drained strength using a critical state friction
angle ('cs) of 29o determined from direct simple shear tests
on Fundão dam iron sand and slimes tailings (Morgenstern
et al. 2016) are assigned to slices above the water table.
Using the newly assigned values of undrained strength, the
LEA model is repeated to incorporate these values along
the failure surface, and the LEA is run iteratively in the
same manner, maintaining the liquefied slices as such until
no other slices liquefy. The factor of safety calculated in the
final LEA is the FS for liquefaction flow failure. For a more
detailed description of the method and the different
Figure 3: Fundão dam's left abutment LEA Model (yellow: parameters used in this analysis, readers are encouraged
sands; green: slimes; brown: original ground) to see Sadrekarimi (2016).
′ −𝑠 (𝑙𝑖𝑞)⁄𝜎 ′
𝑠𝑢 (𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑)⁄𝜎𝑣𝑜 𝑢 𝑣𝑜
𝐼𝐵 = ′ [2]
𝑠𝑢 (𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑)⁄𝜎𝑣𝑜
0.90
3 RESULTS
Kc
0.80
The results from the static liquefaction analysis of Fundão
dam are presented in this section. The FS and the slip Iteration 1
surface for liquefaction flow failure based on the final LEA
0.70 Iteration 2
of the analysis is presented along with the summarized
changes in FS from iteration to iteration, and the mobilized Iteration 3
undrained shear strength along the slip surface. Iteration 4
As an initial reference analysis, a drained LEA of the 0.60
selected cross section was conducted using the -50 50 150 250
Morgenstern-Price method in SLOPE/W® to compare its Distance from Dam Crest [m]
results with those in Morgenstern et al. (2016) and confirm
Figure 7: Variations of Kc along the slip surface for each
the adequate reconstruction of the dam’s cross section. By
LEA iteration
comparing the results of the drained reference LEA with
those reported by Morgenstern et al. (2016), the
reconstructed computer model using the dam’s slimes
depositional information and crest raising records are 1.0
confirmed to be similar to that used in the official
investigation report. With both models yielding the same
Factor of Safety
6 REFERENCES