Journal international des progrès technologiques
Libre accès

Abstrait

Field Monitoring and Numerical Modeling for Reliable Geotechnical Characterization of Mine Waste Dump

Farma Tlili*, Nejub Ben Jumaa, Adal Khorroubi, Somir Ennaur

Reproducing a reliable numerical model close to the reality of mining embankments represents an increasingly demanding challenge for mining researchers and geotechnical engineers. The heterogeneity and uncertainty in the geotechnical parameters of the soil are among the most critical aspects to possibly include in the advanced analysis and design of mine embankments. The exploitation of the results of field monitoring instruments can be functional here to calibrate and improve the reliability and coherence between the numerical model and reality. In New Caledonia, the mining industry produces enormous quantities of discharges developed in the form of waste dumps. The instability of these embankments can create a risk of damaging ground movement. However, the mining operator must understand the behavior of stored material in order to avoid the phenomena of unplanned instabilities. The field measurements and laboratory tests of the operated site are generally limited given the difficulty of excess to the site as well as their costs, while a realistic characterization of the soil is carried out only in numerical research tools, which limits confidence in the conditions of stability. In order to provide this efficient and innovative application to perform predictive analyses of slope stability under realistic conditions, a large-scale monitoring system was implemented for more than 20 years in the areas studied. The calibration between the numerical model and the monitoring results aims to provide a true characterization of the soil as well as to define the best rheological model adequate for the evaluation of all signs of instability.