Soil Mechanics with Mine Tailings Engineering - 2021 entry

The course is designed for graduate students in various branches of engineering that are concerned with the engineering and hydrologic behaviour of earth systems, including geohazards, geotechnical engineering, geological engineering, environmental engineering and mining engineering. The module focuses on tailings dams and embankment dams and includes laboratory analysis to determine the key failure mechanisms of fine-grained material such as mine tailings.

This module will introduce you to the analyses often used in the design of embankment gravity, embedded and reinforced soil retaining walls, simple shallow and pile foundations, the assessment of slope stability and slope stabilisation schemes. It will build on the basic concepts of soil mechanics, and provide a basis for geotechnical design of embankment walls used widely in the mining industry.

Prerequisite module:  None

• To introduce you to the form of and typical methods of construction for geotechnical structures.

• To provide you with the skills to investigate quantitatively the stability of unreinforced and piled slopes; gravity, embedded and reinforced soil retaining walls; and simple foundations.

• To understand the importance of pore water pressures, and assess the impact of changes in pore water pressure on the stability of geotechnical structures.

• To apply suitable factors to limit state calculations to meet the demands of real life situations.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge

Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge

Personal and Key Transferable / Employment Skills and Knowledge

Hours      Content Title                                                                                                                                 
3              SOIL MECHANICS                                                                                                                    
3              SOIL BEHAVIOUR                                                                                                                     
3              SOIL DYNAMICS                                                                                                                       
3              THE IMPACT OF LANDSLIDE ON ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIO-ECONOMY and RECLAMATION OF TAILINGS SITES.                                                                                                                                           
6              HILLSLOPE HYDROLOGY AND SLOPE STABILITY                                                               
12            EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES / SUPPORT OF EXCAVATIONS  

1. ADVANCED SOIL MECHANICS.

Advanced soil mechanics theories and concepts as applied to analysis and design in geotechnical engineering. Topics covered will include seepage, consolidation, shear strength, failure criteria and constitutive models for soil. The course will have an emphasis on numerical solution techniques to geotechnical problems by finite elements and finite differences.

2. SOIL BEHAVIOR.

The focus of this course is on interrelationships among the composition, fabric, and geotechnical and hydrologic properties of soils that comprise fine grains. The content will be divided into two parts.

The first part provides an introduction to the composition and fabric of natural soils and mine tailings and the factors that govern soil behaviour.

The second part examines what is known about how these fundamental characteristics and factors affect geotechnical properties, including the hydrologic properties that influence volume change, shear deformation, and shear strength.

3. SOIL DYNAMICS.

Dynamic phenomena in geotechnical engineering, e.g., earthquakes, pile and foundation vibrations, construction vibrations; behaviour of soils under dynamic loading, e.g., small, medium and large strain behaviour, soil liquefaction; wave propagation through soil and rock; laboratory and field techniques to assess dynamic soil properties; analysis and design of shallow and deep foundations subjected to dynamic loading; analysis of construction vibrations.

4 HILLSLOPE HYDROLOGY AND STABILITY.

Introduction of shallow landslide occurrence. Roles of unsaturated flow and stress in shallow landslides. Slope stability analysis based on unsaturated effective stress conceptualization. The analysis includes:

·         Computer modelling of unsaturated flow and stress distributions in hillslope.

·         Prediction of precipitation induced shallow landslides.

·         Slope stability analysis

·         Slip circle analysis in terms of both total and effective stresses

·         Hazard and risk in relation to slopes  

5. EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES / SUPPORT OF EXCAVATIONS.

Analysis, design, construction and monitoring of earth retaining structures and support of excavations used for permanent and temporary support of transportation facilities, bridges, underground structures and tunnels, shafts, waterfront structures, earth slopes and embankments. Includes gravity, semi-gravity, cantilevered, anchored, geosynthetic and ground improvement walls.

Analysis includes:

Gravity retaining walls and embankment walls such as earthdams:

• Limit equilibrium calculations to determine active and passive forces by analysing the static equilibrium of an assumed sliding wedge failure mechanism

• Assessment of wall stability against sliding, overturning and base bearing failure

• Short and long term conditions (total and effective stress analyses)

• Application of factors of safety for use in design.

Reinforced soil walls:

• Limit equilibrium calculations to determine reinforcement length and spacing

• Assessment of reinforced wall stability.

Embedded cantilever walls:

• Pore pressure distributions

• Equilibrium analysis based on limiting (active and passive) lateral stresses

• Short and long term calculations (total and effective stress analyses)

• Calculation of propping forces

• Application of factors of safety for use in design

• Construction techniques for embedded walls.

Shallow foundations:

• Revision of bearing capacity

• Effects of foundation shape and depth

• Shallow foundations subjected to combined vertical, horizontal and moment loading

• Short and long term calculations (total and effective stress analyses)

• Application of factors of safety for use in design.

As above 2 pieces of CW 40% and/or 1 Exam 60%

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Reading list for this module: