Stability of large embankments founded on glaciated soils

冰川土上大型路堤的稳定性

• 批准号: 249589-2008
• 负责人: Sharma, Jitendrapal
• 金额: $ 1.38万
• 依托单位: University of Saskatchewan
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=505062
• 关键词: Stability; large; embankments; founded; glaciated

The province of Saskatchewan is the world's largest potash producer. There are currently 10 potash mines in operation in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan potash industry has been regulated to minimize land use requirements and the environmental footprint of the tailings piles. This means that any future tailings deposition must be done at steeper side slopes and by increasing pile heights in excess of 50 m. It is, therefore, becoming increasingly critical to ensure the stability of these tailings piles. Already, the potash industry is experiencing an increase in the number of incidences of excessive deformations and instability in these piles. The response of the potash industry has been to place greater emphasis on the design and installation of field monitoring systems to guide the placement of tailings and to provide early warning of excessive deformations and potential failures. This, unfortunately, has not resulted in a significant drop in incidences of pile instability. Many of the potash tailings piles in Saskatchewan are founded on glaciated soils, which are quite stiff and have fairly high strength. As such, these soils do not approach failure condition under 'normal' loading conditions such as those imposed by buildings and other similar structures. The loading imposed by a tailings pile, however, is anything but 'normal'. A tailings pile, which is essentially a very large embankment, has the potential to cause failure of the glaciated soil over which it is placed. These tailings piles provide a unique opportunity to study the response of glaciated soils subjected to 'near failure' loading conditions and can be regarded as field-scale testing facilities. The proposed research aims to use the monitoring data from the tailings piles as field-scale tests in conjunction with advanced laboratory tests and sophisticated numerical modelling to provide a better understanding of the pre-failure deformation behaviour of glaciated soils. The outcome of the proposed research will lead to safer design of tailings piles and other large structures (such as dams, bridges, tunnels, etc.) founded on glaciated soils and result in significant savings in construction and operations costs.

萨斯喀彻温省是世界上最大的钾肥生产国。萨斯喀彻温省目前有10个钾矿在运营。萨斯喀彻温省的钾肥行业已经受到监管，以最大限度地减少土地使用要求和尾矿堆的环境足迹。这意味着未来的任何尾矿堆积都必须在更陡峭的斜坡上进行，并通过增加超过50m的堆高来进行。因此，确保这些尾矿堆的稳定性变得越来越重要。钾肥行业已经在经历这些桩的过度变形和不稳定事件的增加。钾肥行业的反应是更加重视现场监测系统的设计和安装，以指导尾矿的放置，并对过度变形和潜在故障提供早期预警。不幸的是，这并没有导致桩基失稳的发生率显著下降。萨斯喀彻温省的许多钾尾矿堆都是建立在冰川土壤上的，冰川土壤相当坚硬，强度也相当高。因此，在“正常”荷载条件下，例如建筑物和其他类似结构施加的荷载条件下，这些土不会接近破坏状态。然而，尾矿堆施加的负荷却绝非“正常”。尾矿堆本质上是一个非常大的堤坝，有可能导致它所覆盖的冰川土壤的破坏。这些尾矿桩提供了一个独特的机会来研究冰川土壤在接近破坏的荷载条件下的反应，可以被视为现场规模的测试设施。拟议的研究旨在利用尾矿堆的监测数据作为现场测试，并结合先进的实验室测试和复杂的数值模拟，以更好地了解冰化土壤破坏前的变形行为。建议的研究结果将导致尾矿堆和其他大型结构物(如大坝、桥梁、隧道等)的安全设计。建立在冰川土壤上，大大节省了建设和运营成本。