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Slope Stability in Open Pits with Thin Weak Layers
Open pit mining projects usually face particular situations while dealing with slope stability analysis. More than any other projects, mining projects build a considerable number of slopes, which are more likely to behave differently among them, due to the change in orientation in the open pit. One of the situations that represent a considerable problem is the presence of a weak layer, which could be easily analyzed by using the limit equilibrium methods. Nonetheless, there are some practical measures that mining engineers take in order to improve the slope stability condition of mining slopes involving a weak layer, which consist in creating a disturbance in the rock medium surrounding the weak layer by blasting a strip of the rock mass. That modification of the rock medium is not easy to analyze with traditional limit equilibrium methods, because there is not a constitutive model to properly characterize that portion of the disturbed medium. This paper presents a first approach to analyze the stability in open pit mining slopes in the presence of a weak layer, both, before and after blasting to create a disturbance of the medium. This approach considers the effect of the rock mass disturbance, by using a combination between data coming from inclinometer monitoring in the slopes and numerical simulations with finite elements, which allows to monitor the slope stability during the rock mass disturbance. The disturbed rock mass, known as “bimrock”, is then characterized and included into the slope stability models to obtain the factor of safety considering the disturbance of the medium.
Slope Stability in Open Pits with Thin Weak Layers
Open pit mining projects usually face particular situations while dealing with slope stability analysis. More than any other projects, mining projects build a considerable number of slopes, which are more likely to behave differently among them, due to the change in orientation in the open pit. One of the situations that represent a considerable problem is the presence of a weak layer, which could be easily analyzed by using the limit equilibrium methods. Nonetheless, there are some practical measures that mining engineers take in order to improve the slope stability condition of mining slopes involving a weak layer, which consist in creating a disturbance in the rock medium surrounding the weak layer by blasting a strip of the rock mass. That modification of the rock medium is not easy to analyze with traditional limit equilibrium methods, because there is not a constitutive model to properly characterize that portion of the disturbed medium. This paper presents a first approach to analyze the stability in open pit mining slopes in the presence of a weak layer, both, before and after blasting to create a disturbance of the medium. This approach considers the effect of the rock mass disturbance, by using a combination between data coming from inclinometer monitoring in the slopes and numerical simulations with finite elements, which allows to monitor the slope stability during the rock mass disturbance. The disturbed rock mass, known as “bimrock”, is then characterized and included into the slope stability models to obtain the factor of safety considering the disturbance of the medium.
Slope Stability in Open Pits with Thin Weak Layers
Atlantis Highlights in Engineering
Hammah, Reginald E. (editor) / Javankhoshdel, Sina (editor) / Yacoub, Thamer (editor) / Azami, Alireza (editor) / McQuillan, Alison (editor) / Díaz-Durán, Fredy A. (author)
Rocscience International Conference ; 2023 ; Toronto, ON, Canada
Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference 2023 (RIC2023) ; Chapter: 50 ; 522-533
2023-11-07
12 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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