2012 – Seismic Induced Slope Displacement of a Tailings Embankment – Comparison of Numerical and Simplified Analysis Methods

Zhenhe Song, Arjuna Dissanayake, Shunqin Luo

One of the potential tailing dam failure modes that is commonly evaluated is for prediction of earthquake induced crest displacement in relation to available freeboard. The prediction of seismic induced displacement for tailing dams can be evaluated using simplified approaches, i.e. analytical methods by Newmark (1965), Makdisi and Seed (1978), Bray and Travasarou (2007) and empirical method by Swaisgood (2003) and Pells and Fell (2003).
Seismic induced displacements have been estimated using these simplified methods and numerical methods by FLAC and PLAXIS. The results from the numerical modelling were compared with results derived from the simpler analytical and empirical methods. The results indicate the numerical analysis results agrees reasonably well with empirical methods by Swaisgood (2003) and Pells and Fell (2003) and can be used to provide additional confidence in the seismic stability of tailings embankments. However, simplified analytical methods by Newmark (1965), Makdisi and Seed (1978), Bray and Travasarou (2007) could underestimate the seismic induced displacements.
Keywords: Tailing dam, Seismic analysis, numerical analysis, simplified analysis, liquefaction.

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