ORIGINAL PAPER

Laboratory Investigation of the Resistance of Tailingsand Natural Sediments to Cyclic Loading

Africa M. Geremew • Ernest K. Yanful

Received: 5 January 2011 / Accepted: 2 November 2011

� Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract A number of cyclic triaxial tests were

carried out on mine tailings and natural sediment

samples under undrained conditions to investigate

their resistance to cyclic loading. The tests were

performed on more than 100 samples with a cyclic

shear stress ratio ranging from 0.10 to 0.40 under

varying void ratio and the same confining pressure. It

was observed that the axial strain and excess pore

water pressure increased with the number of loading

cycles while the effective stress decreased with

increasing number of loading cycles. The liquefaction

resistance of the tailings was also observed to be

higher than that of natural soils with similar particle

size distribution, void ratio and plasticity index. It was

observed that the influence of specific gravity on the

cyclic strength of mine tailings is significant. The

results showed that the cyclic resistance of the tailings

was not strongly influenced by plasticity index for low

plasticity tailings. A boundary relationship between

void ratio and normalized cyclic resistance ratio was

established based on the results.

Keywords Mine tailings � Natural sediments �Void ratio � Cyclic stress ratio � Cyclic resistance

1 Introduction

The mining industry produces large quantities of mine

tailings every day. Depending on the minerals present

in the parent rock, tailings could adversely affect the

environment if they are not disposed off properly. One

of the most common methods of tailings disposal is

transporting them in slurry pipes (or flumes) to

suitable disposal ponds retained by tailings dams.

One major concern with such mine tailings deposit is

the possibility of the occurrence of liquefaction and

the consequent failure of the retaining dams during

cyclic loading. In the event of an earthquake, shock

waves will be generated in the impounded tailings.

Repeated shocks can cause tailings to liquefy and

waves to form in the impoundment and increase the

risk of overtopping of the dam.

There are a number of cases where mine tailings

dams have failed due to static and seismic induced

cyclic loading. Examples are: the October 4, 2010

Kolontar bauxite tailings dam in Hungary; August 19,

2009 Karamken gold tailings dam in Russia; May 14,

2009 Huayuan manganese tailings dam in China;

April 30, 2006 Miliang area gold tailings dam in

China; October 3, 2003 Cerro Negro copper tailings

dam in Chile; November 12, 1996 Amatista tailings

dam in Peru; January 17, 1994 Tapo canyon tailings

A. M. Geremew (&) � E. K. Yanful

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,

The University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond

Street North, London, ON N6A 5B9, Canada

e-mail: ageremew@uwo.ca

E. K. Yanful

e-mail: eyanful@eng.uwo.ca

123

Geotech Geol Eng

DOI 10.1007/s10706-011-9478-x

dam in California; April 1958 Mayluu-Suu tailings

dam in Kyrgyzstan; 1954 Lengenfeld tailings dam in

Germany; October 1, 1928 El Teniente copper mine

tailings dam in Chile (USCOLD 1994; UNEP 1996;

ICOLD 2001; http://www.wise-uranium.org/mdaf.

html). For example, the November 12, 1996 Amatis-

ta tailings dam failure in Peru due to seismic-induced

cyclic loading led to the release of more than

300,000 m3 of tailings. The 1994 Merriespruit tailings

dam failure, which was triggered by a 50 mm rainfall,

led to the flow of 600,000 m3 of tailings over the dam

and inundated the downstream area up to 3 km (Fourie

et al. 2001). The flow of the impounded tailings

slime during the January 14, 1978 earthquake near

Izu-Ohshima led to the failure of the tailings dikes

(Ishihara 1980). The 1964 devastating earthquakes in

Niigata (Japan) and Anchorage (Alaska) led to the

start of more focused and organized liquefaction

mechanism studies. The most widely used procedure

for liquefaction assessment of soils and sediments is

the approach proposed by Youd et al. (2001). It was

originally proposed by Seed and Idriss (1971) and

progressively improved by different researchers (Seed

et al. 1983; Robertson and Wride 1998; Youd et al.

2001; Juang et al. 2002; Cetin et al. 2004; Moss et al.

2006; Idriss and Boulanger 2008).

In the seismic analysis of tailings dams, the

mechanical response of mine tailings under seismic

induced cyclic loading must be known. This response

can be determined from laboratory dynamic tests, such

as cyclic triaxial test. A number of researchers have

studied the response of soils, sediments and mine

tailings to cyclic loading (McKee et al. 1979; Ishihara

et al. 1980, 1981; Moriwaki et al. 1982; Vick 1983;

Poulos et al. 1985; Alarcon-Guzman et al. 1988;

Marcuson et al. 1990; Finn et al. 1994; Koester 1994;

Boulanger et al. 1998; Yamamuro and Lade 1998;

Braja et al. 1999; Andrews and Martin 2000; Atukor-

ala et al. 2000; Thevanayagam et al. 2000; Polito and

Martin 2001; Youd et al. 2001; Bouckovalas et al.

2003; Bray et al. 2004; Wijewickreme and Sanin

2004; Wijewickreme et al. 2005; Hyde et al. 2006;

Leon et al. 2006; Sanin and Wijewickreme 2006;

Bouferra et al. 2007; James et al. 2007; Idriss and

Boulanger 2008). For example, Ishihara et al. (1980)

showed that fine-grained tailings with a plasticity

index of 15–20% have a smaller cyclic strength than

those that exhibit non-plastic behavior. Ishihara et al.

(1981) studied the cyclic resistance of reconstituted

and undisturbed mine tailings. Moriwaki et al. (1982)

carried out the response of copper mine tailings using

field and laboratory tests. Vick (1983) investigated the

cyclic strength of the different mine tailings. Peters

and Verdugo (2003) observed that, under the same

void ratio, the cyclic resistance of mine tailings

decreases with increasing fine content. Based on field

and laboratory investigations, Bray et al. (2004)

demonstrated that soil deposits that showed cyclic

mobility in the laboratory exhibit significant settle-

ment. Sitharam et al. (2004) discussed the variation of

normalized residual strength (i.e., with effective

confining pressure) of soils with void ratio. Wijewick-

reme et al. (2005) observed the variation of post cyclic

maximum shear strength ratio with void ratio for two

mine tailings.

Peters and Verdugo (2003) showed the susceptibil-

ity of mine tailings to liquefaction and the need to

further understand the response of tailings to cyclic

loading. Moreover, unlike the case with natural soils,

the available published information on the cyclic shear

response of mine tailings is limited. It should also be

noted that there is no clear consensus from the

workshops sponsored by the National Center for

Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER) on the

liquefaction assessment of fine-grained soils (Youd

et al. 2001). Therefore, the main objective of the

present study is to assess the cyclic strength of mine

tailings using cyclic triaxial testing.

2 Materials and Methods

2.1 Tailings and Soil Samples

The tailings samples used in the present study are

obtained from four mining sites located in Ontario,

Canada: Mattabi near Ignace; Shebandowan located

approximately 90 km west of Thunder Bay; Mussel-

white, located on the southern shore of Lake Opapi-

miskan, 480 km north of Thunder Bay; and Copper

Cliff Mine, Sudbury. Kaolinite, obtained from United

Clay Inc., USA, and bentonite (montmorillonite) from

Wyoming, USA, were also used in the study. A natural

soil from London, Ontario, Canada, Casco silty soil,

was included in the study for comparison purposes.

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2.2 Physical and Mineralogical Properties

of Tailings and Natural Soil

A series of tests were carried out using standard

laboratory equipment to obtain the basic physical

properties of the tailings and natural soil. The particle

size distributions of the tailings and natural soil were

estimated using sieve and hydrometer analysis. ASTM

D 4318 standard was used to estimate the specific

gravity and Atterberg limits. The initial moisture

content of air-dried tailings and natural soil samples

were determined based on ASTM D 4643 procedure

(Braja 2002). The most commonly used GeoNor fall

cone apparatus, Model G-200, was used to estimate

the liquid and plastic limits (GeoNor 2005). The

mineralogy of the tailings and natural soil was

characterized using X-ray diffraction analysis.

2.3 Description of Monotonic and Cyclic Triaxial

Testing Apparatus

The cyclic triaxial testing equipment used in this study

was a general-purpose automated triaxial testing

system (Wykeham Farrance, Model No. 12492, Hert-

fordshire, United Kingdom) with various transducers.

There were 10 transducers; namely, WF 17070

displacement transducers (vertical actuator, on-sam-

ple radial and two on-sample axial displacement

transducers), pressure transducers (cell pressure, back

pressure, pore and mid-height pore water pressure

transducers), volume change transducer and load cell

transducer. The loading system consisted of a load

frame and hydraulic actuator capable of performing

stress and strain controlled triaxial tests with a

frequency of 0.01–10 Hz. The frame was large enough

for testing specimens of size between 70 and 100 mm

in diameter, and 140 and 200 mm in height with

confining stresses up to 2000 kPa (Wykeham Farrance

2008).

2.4 Cyclic Triaxial Experiments

2.4.1 Sample Preparation

Samples of air-dried tailings and natural soil were

prepared using the tamping procedure of ASTM D

5311 (ASTM Standard: D 5311-92 1996). The sam-

ples were 70 mm in diameter and 140 mm in height. A

thin rubber membrane (less than 1 mm in thickness)

and a porous stone covered with a filter paper were

mounted on the base of the cyclic triaxial apparatus

and supported by a split mould. Pre-determined

quantities of air-dried tailings (and natural soil) were

spread carefully and sequentially in five layers into the

mould. Each layer was densified by tamping with a

wooden rod that had a thick, hard rubber membrane at

its base. In order to obtain uniform density within the

entire height of the sample, the number of regular hand

tamping for the bottom layer was kept to half that of

the top layer. For the intermediate layers, the number

of hand tamping varied linearly between the bottom

and top layers. To densify the top layer of the samples,

a light surcharge was introduced on the top of the

samples to facilitate the tamping. The top of the

sample was then covered with filter paper and a porous

stone was placed on top of the filter paper. Using the

above technique, the tailings and natural soil samples

with different target initial void ratios were prepared.

After the samples were prepared, a small vacuum

pressure was applied to the specimens to reduce

disturbance during the removal of split mould and

triaxial cell installation. As explained in Sects. 2.4.2

and 2.4.3, the samples were saturated, consolidated

and then cyclically loaded using the built-in hydrau-

lic actuator system of the cyclic triaxial testing

equipment.

Using the same sample preparation techniques,

additional samples of Mattabi tailings with different

void ratio were prepared. From these samples, sub-

samples were prepared and one-dimensional consol-

idation tests were carried out based on ASTM D 2435

procedure to estimate the pre-consolidation pressure

for the corresponding initial void ratio (ASTM Des-

ignation: D 2435 1996). ‘‘It shall be noted that similar

tamping load during sample preparation resulted in

similar initial void ratio.’’

2.4.2 Saturation and Consolidation

In order to have an accurate measurement of pore

water pressure in the tailings and natural soil samples

during shearing, each sample was saturated by apply-

ing a back pressure sufficient to dissolve any residual

air in it. As a means of maintaining a small effective

confining pressure on the sample, the back pressure

was simultaneously increased while the cell pressure

was increased. The Advanced Cyclic Triaxial Testing

System software calculates the degree of saturation by

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means of Skempton’s B-value, resulting from an

undrained isotropic pressure increment. In the present

study, following ASTM D 5311-92 (ASTM Standard:

D 5311-92 1996), air-dried samples with different

void ratios were saturated with de-aired water by

increasing the back pressure gradually while main-

taining the effective confining pressure at 10–15 kPa.

The target average back pressure used in this inves-

tigation was 90 kPa. This process was continued until

the Skempton’s pore pressure parameter, B-value,

exceeded 0.95.

In order to bring the samples into a state of effective

stress required to carry out a cyclic shear test, they had

to be consolidated (USACE 1980). The most widely

recognized consolidation approach in triaxial testing is

to consolidate the samples isotropically for horizontal

soil deposits and anisotropically for sloping ground

surfaces. In the present study, the samples were

consolidated isotropically as tailings are horizontally

deposited in actual field disposal techniques. The cell

pressure for the samples was adjusted to be between

100 and 150 kPa and a target mean normal effective

stress between 50 and 70 kPa was obtained. Based on

the sample dimensions just after consolidation, the

consolidated void ratios (ec) of the tailings and natural

sediments samples were estimated.

2.4.3 Cyclic and Monotonic Triaxial Testing

Stress-controlled cyclic triaxial tests were carried out

on isotropically consolidated tailings and natural soil

samples under undrained conditions to investigate

their resistance to cyclic loading based on ASTM D

5311-92 procedure (ASTM Standard: D 5311-92

1996). Following consolidation, constant cyclic axial

stresses of varying magnitudes were applied to the

samples using the built-in hydraulic actuator. The

frequency of the applied constant cyclic load was 1 Hz

with sinusoidal wave. The effective confining pressure

in all of the tests was between 50 and 70 kPa. Pore

water pressure ratio, double amplitude axial strain, cell

pressure, pore-water pressure and other parameters

were monitored using a built-in data acquisition

system. Strain-controlled monotonic triaxial tests

were also carried out on isotropically consolidated

Mattabi tailings under undrained conditions to estab-

lish the relationship between the effective mean

principal stress and critical void ratio using ASTM D

4767 procedure (ASTM Designation: D 4767 1996).

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Physical and Mineralogical Properties

of the Tailings and Natural Sediments

The basic physical characteristics of the tailings and

natural soil are presented in Table 1. Mattabi, She-

bandowan, Sudbury and Musselwhite tailings were

dark, brown, dark grey and light brown in color

respectively. The particle size distributions of the

tailings and natural soil samples are also shown in

Fig. 1. The percentage of clay-sized particles (\2 lm)

in the tailings was less than 5% except for Mussel-

white—5% kaolinite and Musselwhite - 5% bentonite

mixes. All of the tailings had no odor except the

Sudbury tailings. As per the product specification,

95% of the kaolinite and more than 85% of the

Wyoming bentonite were finer than 2 lm.

The results of the X-ray diffraction analysis indi-

cate that the main components of the Mattabi tailings

were illite, chlorite, feldspar, quartz, pyrite and

pyrrhotite. The major minerals present in the Sheban-

dowan tailings were kaolinite, chlorite, quartz, feld-

spar, pyrite and pyrrhotite, while the dominant

minerals present in Sudbury tailings were chlorite,

illite, quartz and pyrite. Illite, chlorite, quartz, feldspar

and pyrite were the main minerals present in Mussel-

white tailings. According to the product data provided

by United Clay Inc., the kaolinite contained SiO2

(45.7%), Al2O3 (37.4%), Fe2O3 (0.80%), Na2O

(0.05%) and K2O (0.33%) and had a specific surface

of 24.25 m2/g. The product data provided by WYO-

BEN Inc., U.S.A., also showed that the bentonite used

in the present study was composed of SiO2 (60.34%),

Al2O3 (19.28%), Fe2O3 (3.48%), Na2O (2.34%), TiO2

(0.22%), CaO (0.38%), MgO (1.67%), K2O (0.10%),

H2O (7.75%), loss on ignition (4.37%) and others

(0.07%) and had a specific surface of 800 m2/g.

The range of consolidated void ratios considered in

the present study was between 0.60 and 1.16 which is

the case for most deposited tailings. It should also be

noted that the mine tailings investigated in the present

study were from newly deposited waste sediments. For

example, the pre-consolidation pressure of Mattabi

tailings samples (which were prepared using the same

techniques discussed in the present study) was

estimated from consolidation tests. The results showed

that the pre-consolidation pressure for an initial void

ratio between 0.780 and 0.952 was between 40 and

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80 kPa. The comparison between the pre-consolida-

tion and effective consolidation pressures showed that

the specimens were not highly over consolidated with

an OCR (over consolidation ratio) of around unity.

Indeed, there were slight variations in the OCR values

for the different tailings layers.

3.2 Strain-Controlled Monotonic Triaxial Test

Liquefaction can be classified as either flow liquefac-

tion or cyclic mobility. Flow liquefaction is a process

of strain-softening; it occurs only in loose (or

contractive) cohesionless soils. It can be induced by

static or seismic undrained loading (Casagrande 1976;

Robertson 1994; Kramer 1996). Cyclic mobility

results in deformation and can be induced by cyclic

loading.

From the results of strain-controlled monotonic

triaxial tests on Mattabi tailings samples, the relation-

ship between the effective mean principal stress and

critical void ratio (i.e., the critical state line) was

established (Fig. 2a). This line can be used to identify

the susceptibility of Mattabi tailings to flow liquefac-

tion and to differentiate between loose and dense state

of Mattabi tailings. If the state of Mattabi tailings

deposit in the field plots above this critical state line,

then the deposit is considered susceptible to flow

liquefaction provided that the static shear stress

Table 1 Basic physical characteristics and cyclic strength of mine tailings and natural soils

Sample description Percentage of fines Gs Consistency index Cyclic strength

(\2 lm) (\5 lm) LL PL PI ec CRR

(%) (%) (-) (%) (%) (%) (-) (-)

Mattabi mine tailings

(MAT tailings)

2.56 3.20 3.29 20.1 7.5 12.6 0.65 0.345

0.70 0.312

0.80 0.250

0.85 0.195

0.92 0.141

Shebandowan East Cell mine tailings

(SHEEC tailings)

1.29 1.29 3.22 12.0 11.0 1.0 0.70 0.305

0.75 0.267

0.80 0.207

1.00 0.144

Shebandowan West Cell mine tailings

(SHEWC tailings)

4.31 5.70 3.3 23.0 15.3 7.7 1.02 0.147

0.89 0.197

0.85 0.238

Sudbury mine tailings

(SHEEC tailings)

1.77 3.06 3.88 23.61 19.32 4.3 0.99 0.227

1.03 0.166

1.16 0.139

Musselwhite mine tailings

(MW tailings)

2.02 5.96 3.32 24.48 20.13 4.3 0.85 0.262

0.90 0.208

0.70 0.344

0.95 0.173

Musselwhite-5% kaolinite mix

(MW tailings—5K)

6.52 10.40 3.2 20.7 15.2 5.5 0.82 0.170

0.77 0.186

Musselwhite-5% bentonite mix

(MW tailings—5B)

6.88 8.00 3.23 29.5 21.3 8.2 0.991 0.158

0.775 0.274

Musselwhite-15% bentonite mix

(MW tailings—15B)

14.09 15.89 3.2 44.5 21.3 23.2 Not liquefied

London-Casco silty sand (LC silty sand) 4.00 15.0 2.74 20.6 15.5 5.1 0.668 0.224

Gs, specific gravity; LL, liquid limit PL, plastic limit; PI, plasticity index; ec, void ratio after consolidation; CRR, cyclic resistance

ratio that corresponds to 20 cycles required to produce 5% double amplitude axial strain

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exceeds the residual strength of the tailings deposit.

However, if it plots below this line, it will not be

susceptible to flow liquefaction (Poulos et al. 1985).

Typical stress paths for Mattabi tailings samples are

shown in Fig. 2b and c.

3.3 Stress-Controlled Cyclic Triaxial Test

In cyclic strength studies of soils, it is common to

express the developed cyclic shear stress due to the

applied axial cyclic loading by plotting the non-

dimensional cyclic stress ratio (CSR) against the

number of loading cycles (N) to failure. The most

commonly adopted failure criterion for isotropically

consolidated samples is the cyclic stress ratio that

corresponds to the number of loading cycles required

to achieve 100% pore pressure ratio (a stage at which

the gradually developed pore water pressure reaches

the initially applied effective confining stress) or 5%

double amplitude axial strain (Perlea 2000).

In the present study, for the sake of consistency and

within the limits of the precision of the pressure

transducers under high frequency cyclic loading,

failure was assumed to occur when the double

amplitude axial strain reached 5%. The tests were

terminated when the pore pressure ratio reached unity

as liquefaction failure would occur when the effective

stress reached zero. A typical plot showing the

variations of double amplitude axial strain, pore

pressure ratio, total pore water pressure and effective

stress with the number of loading cycles for Mattabi

tailings is presented in Fig. 3a and b. The results show

that as the number of cycles increases, the excess pore

water pressure increases and, at initiation of liquefac-

tion, it reaches a value approximately equal to the

confining pressure; a stage at which the effective stress

becomes negligible. The loading cycles corresponding

to a 5% double amplitude axial strain were determined

from these plots to obtain the corresponding applied

cyclic stress ratio (CSR) given by Eq. 1.

CSR ¼ rd

2r0cð1Þ

where rd is cyclic deviator stress in kPa and rc

0is

effective consolidation pressure in kPa.

From laboratory cyclic triaxial tests, Thammathiwat

and Chim-oye (2004) verified that, for a given cyclic

shear stress ratio, the variation in the excess pore water

pressure during cyclic loading shows nearly similar

trends for different effective confining pressure. In the

present study, it was observed that the loading cycle that

gave 5% double amplitude axial strain was comparable

to the loading cycle that gave a pore pressure ratio of

unity. Indeed, there were slight variations between the

two; the variations were different for different types of

tailings. As explained by Boulanger and Idriss (2006,

2007), this could be dependent on the frequency of

loading, the plasticity index, and the type and amount of

clay minerals present in the tailings.

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

100.0

0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10

Shebandowan East Cell (SHEEC)

Mattabi (MAT)

Musselwhite (MW)

Musselwhite - 5% Kaolinite (MW-5K)

Shebandowan West Cell (SHEWC)

Sudbury (SUD)

London-Casco silty sand (LCSS)

Silt GravelSand

0.00001 0.0001

Perc

ent f

iner

(%

)

Particle size, D (mm)

Shebandowan East Cell (SHEEC)

Mattabi (MAT)

Musselwhite (MW)

Musselwhite - 5% Kaolinite (MW-5K)

Shebandowan West Cell (SHEWC)

Sudbury (SUD)

London-Casco silty sand (LCSS)

Clay Silt GravelSand

Musselwhite - 5% Bentonite (MW-5B)

Fig. 1 Particle size

distributions of the tailings

and natural soil

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Effective Stress Path

Total Stress Path

εa versus q

MAT - 09, ec ≈ 0.915

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

10 100 1000Effective mean normal stress, p' (kPa)

MAT - 01 MAT - 02

MAT - 03 MAT - 04

MAT - 05 MAT - 06

MAT - 08 MAT - 09

MAT - 10 MAT - 11

MAT - 12 MAT - 13

MAT - 14 MAT - 15

MAT - 16 MAT - 17

Fitted critical state line

0 5 10 15 20

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Axial strain, εa (%)

Dev

iato

r st

ress

, q

(kPa

)

Stress (kPa)

Effective Stress Path

Total Stress Path

εa versus q

MAT - 09, ec ≈ 0.915

Voi

d ra

tio, e

(-)

MAT - 01 MAT - 02

MAT - 03 MAT - 04

MAT - 05 MAT - 06

MAT - 08 MAT - 09

MAT - 10 MAT - 11

MAT - 12 MAT - 13

MAT - 14 MAT - 15

MAT - 16 MAT - 17

Fitted critical state line

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

050 100 150 200 250 300 3500

Effective mean principal stress, p' (kPa)

Dev

iato

r st

ress

, q

(kPa

)

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 2 a Effective mean

principal stress versus

critical void ratio for

Mattabi tailings samples

(MAT 01—17). b Stress

paths for typical monotonic

undrained triaxial test for

Mattabi tailings sample

MAT—09. c Effective stress

paths for typical monotonic

undrained triaxial tests for

Mattabi tailings

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3.4 Resistance of Tailings and Natural Soil

to Cyclic Loading

At present, in general, the Youd et al. (2001)

procedure is the recommended approach for the

estimation of the cyclic resistance of soils. The cyclic

strength of soils is known to vary with void ratio

(Sitharam et al. 2004, 2005). In the present study, an

attempt was made to establish a relationship between

the cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) and void ratio (e) for

the tailings investigated. Ishihara (1993) specified the

cyclic failure (i.e., cyclic resistance) of a given soil

from the plot of cyclic stress ratio (CSR) versus

number of loading cycles required to produce 5%

double amplitude axial strain (N5%) relationship as the

cyclic stress ratio corresponding to 20 cycles. Even

though this criterion is location specific, it was used in

the present laboratory investigation to estimate the

cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) of the tailings and natural

sediments. A plot of cyclic stress ratio versus the

number of cycles required to reach 5% double

amplitude axial strain has been produced for different

0

30

60

90

120

150

180

210

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225

Pre

ssur

e (k

Pa)

Number of cycles (-)

Effective stress

Pore water pressure

Cell pressure

ec = 0.647

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105

120

135

150

165

180

195

210

225

Por

e w

ater

pre

ssur

e ra

tio

(-)

Dou

ble

ampl

itud

e ax

ial

stra

in (

%)

Number of cycle (-)

ec = 0.647

Double amplitude axial strain

Pore pressure ratio

(a)

(b)

Fig. 3 a Typical variations

of double amplitude axial

strain and pore pressure ratio

with the number of loading

cycle for Mattabi tailings

sample (MAT—05).

b Typical variations of cell

pressure, total pore water

pressure and effective stress

with the number of loading

cycle for Mattabi tailings

sample (MAT—05)

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void ratios (Fig. 4). The cyclic resistance ratio that

corresponds to 20 cycles was determined from

the established relationship between CSR and N5%.

Typical plots for Mattabi tailings and other natural

soils are shown in Fig. 4 while the details are shown in

Fig. 5 and Table 1. The results show that, for the

tailings and natural soil investigated in the present

study, the cyclic strength decreases and approaches a

single value as the void ratio increases.

The cyclic strength of mine tailings is influenced

by their specific gravity, among other parameters and

accounting for this effect would increase the accuracy

of prediction. The mode of failure in cyclic tests is

different from that in monotonic tests. In monotonic

tests, failure is associated with failure planes. In

cyclic tests, failure is not related to a specific failure

plane; it occurs when the double amplitude axial

strain reaches 5%. The internal pore water pressure

acts on the tailings solids; with their high specific

gravity the tailings provide great resistance. This

suggests that, in cyclic mobility assessment of mine

tailings, specific gravity would play a prominent role,

which may not necessarily be the case with natural

sediments. Specific gravity is typically quite high for

mine tailings (compared to that of natural sediments)

and depends on the nature of the parent ore from

which the minerals were extracted. Thus, accounting

for this parameter could facilitate the development of

a boundary relationship between the resistance of the

tailings to cyclic loading and void ratio. As shown in

Fig. 5, the influence of specific gravity on the cyclic

strength of mine tailings is significant. In the present

study, as a means of accounting for the effect of

specific gravity, the cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) of

the tailings was normalized by dividing CRR by the

respective specific gravity (Gs). The relationship

between the normalized CRR (i.e. CRR/Gs) and void

ratio (e) is shown in Fig. 6. The calculated regression

coefficient (R2 value) for the relation between CRR

and ec, and CRR/Gs and ec were 0.73 (Fig. 5) and

0.90 (Fig. 7) respectively. These results show that the

normalized relationship (between CRR/Gs and ec)

provides a better accuracy than the original relation-

ship (between CRR and ec) for the mine tailings

investigated in this study. Based on more than 100

samples of tailings acquired from four mining sites in

Canada, a boundary relationship between void ratio

and normalized cyclic resistance ratio was established

(Eqs. 2 and 3, Fig. 7).

CRR

Gs

¼ 0:047e�1:95c Average cyclic strength curve

ð2Þ

0:037e�1:87c � CRR

Gs

� 0:059e�1:92c

Boundary cyclic resistance curvesð3Þ

where Gs is the specific gravity, ec is the initial void

ratio after consolidation, CSR is the cyclic stress ratio

and CRR is the cyclic resistance ratio.

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

1 10 100 1000 10000 100000

Cyc

lic s

tres

s ra

tio (

CSR

)

Number of cycles required to produce 5% double amplitude axial strain (-)

e = 0.60 (0.58 - 0.62)

e = 0.65 (0.63 - 0.67)

e = 0.70 (0.68 - 0.72)

e = 0.80 (0.78 - 0.82)

e = 0.85 (0.83 - 0.87)

e = 0.92 (0.88 - 0.94)

e = 0.55 (Silt, Zhu &Law 1988)

e = 0.65 (Silt, Zhu andLaw, 1988)

e = 0.68 (Med. Sand,Prakash 1981)

Fig. 4 Variation of cyclic

stress ratio (CSR) versus

number of cycles required to

produce 5% double

amplitude axial strain for

Mattabi tailings and natural

soil samples

Geotech Geol Eng

123

3.5 Validity of the Boundary Cyclic Resistance

Curves

As a means of verifying the validity of the established

boundary relationship between void ratio and normal-

ized cyclic resistance ratio, results of laboratory

studies published by different investigators were used.

Sanin and Wijewickreme (2006) estimated the cyclic

resistance of undisturbed samples of Fraser River

Delta silt using constant-volume cyclic direct simple

shear tests. Wijewickreme et al. (2005) also used a

constant-volume, cyclic direct simple shear apparatus

to determine the cyclic resistance of undisturbed

samples of laterite, copper–gold tailings, copper–gold-

zinc tailings and reconstituted copper–gold-zinc tail-

ings. Sitharam et al. (2004) investigated the cyclic

resistance of liquefied silty sand samples using stress-

controlled undrained cyclic triaxial tests. The cyclic

strength of El Cobre old dike sand, El Cobre No. 4 dike

sand and quartz sand were also carried out using

y = 0.141x-2.09

R² = 0.97

y = 0.135x-2.29

R² = 0.97

y = 0.153x-2.57

R² = 0.96

y = 0.165x-2.14

R² = 0.93

y = 0.202x-2.68

R² = 0.83

y = 0.162x-1.76

R² = 0.73

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.35

0.40

0.45

0.50

0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2

Cyc

lic

Str

engt

h R

atio

(C

RR

)

Void ratio (e)

SHEEC tailings (Gs=3.22) MAT tailings (Gs=3.29)

SHEWC tailings (Gs=3.30) MW tailings (Gs=3.32)

SUD tailings (Gs=3.88) MW tailings - 5B (Gs=3.23)

MW tailings - 5K (Gs=3.20) LC silty sand (Gs=2.74)

Best fit line

Fig. 5 The relationship

between cyclic resistance

ratio (CRR) and void ratio

for tailings and natural soil

for a loading frequency of

1 Hz

y = 0.042x-2.09

R² = 0.97

y = 0.041x-2.29

R² = 0.97

y = 0.046x-2.57

R² = 0.96

y = 0.05x-2.14

R² = 0.93

y = 0.052x-2.68

R² = 0.83

0.00

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.20

0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2

Nor

mal

ized

Cyc

lic

Str

engt

h R

atio

(C

RR

/Gs)

Void ratio (e)

SHEEC tailings MAT tailings

SHEWC tailings MW tailings

SUD tailings MW tailings - 5B

MW tailings - 5K LC silty sand

Fig. 6 The relationship

between normalized cyclic

resistance ratio (CRR/Gs)

and void ratio for tailings

and natural soil

Geotech Geol Eng

123

stress-controlled cyclic triaxial shear test apparatus in

undrained condition (Ishihara et al. 1980).

Based on CRR results from Cyclic Direct Simple

Shear (DSS) and isotropically consolidated undrained

Cyclic Triaxial (TRX) tests performed by a number of

researchers (Seed and Peacock 1971; Finn et al. 1971;

Ishibashi and Sherif 1974; Castro 1975; Seed 1979),

the following relationship (Eq. 4) is recommended by

Idriss and Boulanger (2008).

CRRDSS ¼1þ 2 Koð ÞSS

3

� �CRRTRX ð4Þ

where CRRDSS is the cyclic resistance ratio obtained

using cyclic direct simple shear device, CRRTRX is the

cyclic resistance ratio obtained using cyclic triaxial

device and (Ko)DSS is the coefficient of earth pressure

at rest in a cyclic direct simple shear device. For the

present study, as explained in the sample preparation

section, the tailings samples were normally consoli-

dated. For such normally consolidated tailings and

natural sediments, the value of (Ko)DSS, can be taken

between 0.45 and 0.50. Hence, Eq. 4 reduces to Eq. 5.

CRRDSS ¼ ð0:63 to 0:67ÞCRRTRX ð5ÞAs shown in Fig. 8, the data from these other

investigations have been plotted on the established

boundary relationship between void ratio and normal-

ized cyclic resistance ratio (derived in Fig. 7). More-

over, the physical properties of the samples and the

cyclic shear resistance results are as shown in Table 2.

From Fig. 8, it can be seen that the void ratio versus

normalized cyclic resistance ratio data obtained by

Sanin and Wijewickreme (2006); Wijewickreme et al.

(2005) and Ishihara et al. (1980) fall within the

established boundaries in the present study. The CRR

results from Cyclic Direct Simple Shear (DSS) tests

obtained from other researchers were transformed into

an equivalent Cyclic Triaxial values using Eq. 5. The

data from Sitharam et al. (2004) fall below the lower

boundary and this is due to the fact that the investi-

gated samples were liquefied silty sand during the

Bhuj earthquake. Even though its void ratio is beyond

the range proposed in the present study, the laterite

tailings sample (Wijewickreme et al. 2005) shows a

higher value of cyclic resistance to liquefaction than

the other samples (Fig. 8). This discrepancy is due to

the fact that the laterite tailings contained 35% clay

(\2 lm) whereas the other tailings have a much lower

clay content (Table 2). Such good agreement with

published data from different researchers suggests that

the established boundary relationships are promising

and that similar investigations could be carried out to

further validate them.

3.6 Suitability of the Empirical Liquefaction

Susceptibility Criteria for Tailings and Natural

Soil

Apart from the intensity, duration and frequency of

cyclic loading, the response of soils to shear and

y = 0.047x-1.95

R² = 0.90

y = 0.037x-1.87 y = 0.059x-1.92

0.00

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.20

0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2

Nor

mal

ized

Cyc

lic

Str

engt

h R

atio

(C

RR

/Gs)

Void ratio (e)

SHEEC tailings MAT tailings

SHEWC tailings MW tailings

SUD tailings MW tailings - 5B

MW tailings - 5K

Fig. 7 Proposed boundary

relationship between the

normalized cyclic resistance

ratio (CRR/Gs) and void

ratio for tailings having

similar physical properties

for a loading frequency of

1 Hz

Geotech Geol Eng

123

deformation is influenced by many other factors

including mineralogy, grain size/shape, plasticity,

particle arrangement (fabric), microstructure, packing

density, initial stress conditions, and age (Prakash and

Puri 1982; Sandoval 1989; Guo and Prakash 1999).

However, current practice sometimes uses empirical

criteria that are based on only simple soil indices for

the evaluation of liquefaction potential of fine grained

y = 0.037x-1.87

y = 0.059x-1.92

0.00

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.20

0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Nor

mal

ized

Cyc

lic

Str

engt

h R

atio

(C

RR

/Gs)

Void ratio (ec)

#3-Fraser River Delta Silt (Sanin and Wijewickreme 2006)

Laterite tailings, Clayey silt (Wijewickreme et al. 2005)

Copper-gold tailings (Wijewickreme et al. 2005)

Copper-gold-zinc tailings, Silt (Wijewickreme et al. 2005)

Copper-gold-zinc reconstituted tailings, (Wijewickreme ta al. 2005)

Liquified Bhuj silty sand (Sitharam et al. 2004)

El Cobre Old Dike Sand (Ishihara et al. 1980)

El Cobre No.4 Dike Sand (Ishihara et al. 1980)

Quartz Sand (Ishihara et al. 198

Fig. 8 Plots of data from

different investigators on the

proposed simplified

liquefaction susceptibility

criteria for mine tailings

deposits

Table 2 Physical characteristics and cyclic shear resistance of different samples investigated by other researchers

Description Clay content ec CRR Gs CRR/Gs Test type References

(%) (-) (-) (-) (-)

#3-Fraser River Delta silt, II (a) 10 0.931 0.145 2.690 0.054 Cyclic direct

simple shear

Sanin and

Wijewickreme

(2006)#3-Fraser River Delta silt, III (a) 10 0.912 0.170 2.690 0.063

Laterite tailings, silty clay 35 1.393 0.238 4.100 0.058 Cyclic direct

simple shear

Wijewickreme et al.

(2005)Copper–gold tailings, silt 6–11 0.556 0.309 2.780 0.111

Reconstituted copper–gold-zinc

tailings

8.1 0.860 0.194 3.670 0.053

Copper–gold-zinc tailings, silt *0 0.980 0.186 3.620 0.051

El Cobre old dike sand tailings \5 0.779 0.190 2.694 0.071 Cyclic triaxial Ishihara et al. (1980)

0.674 0.230 2.694 0.085

0.625 0.300 2.694 0.111

El Cobre no.4 dike sand tailings 5 0.921 0.175 2.735 0.064 Cyclic triaxial Ishihara et al. (1980)

0.743 0.240 2.735 0.088

Quartz sand 0 0.845 0.133 2.644 0.050 Cyclic triaxial Ishihara et al. (1980)

0.775 0.170 2.644 0.064

0.715 0.250 2.644 0.095

Bhuj silty sand 2 0.547 0.075 2.670 0.028 Cyclic triaxial Sitharam et al.

(2004)0.524 0.090 2.670 0.034

0.500 0.182 2.670 0.068

Gs, specific gravity; ec, void ratio after consolidation; CRR, cyclic resistance ratio that corresponds to 20 cycles required to produce

5% double amplitude axial strain

Geotech Geol Eng

123

soils. The Chinese criterion is one of the oldest

empirical methods for the evaluation of liquefaction

susceptibility of fine grained soils (Wang 1979). This

method states that for soils with a percentage of fines

(\5 lm) less than 15%, liquid limit (LL) less than

35% and a gravimetric water content greater than 90%

of the liquid limit, significant strength loss will occur

when cyclic load (like earthquake) is applied and

therefore increase the vulnerability to liquefaction

(Seed et al. 1983) (Fig. 9). Accounting for the

variation in estimating the Atterberg limits from

ASTM procedures, Finn (1991, 1993) and Perlea

et al. (1999) proposed the following adjustment to the

Chinese criterion: decrease the fines content by 5%,

Chinese liquefaction criteria LL - MAT tailingsLL - SHEEC tailings LL - SUD tailingsLL - MW tailings LL - MW tailings - 5KLL - MW tailings - 5K LL - MW tailings - 15BLL - SHEEC tailings d5 - Mattabi tailingsd5 - SHEWC tailings d5 - SHEEC tailingsd5 - MW tailings d5 - SUD tailings

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0

25

50

75

100

0 30 60 90

Per

cent

fin

er t

han

5 μm

, d 5

(%)

Liq

uid

lim

it, L

L (%

)

Water content , WC (%)

Not susceptible to liquefaction

Susceptible to liquefaction

Fig. 9 Chinese empirical

criteria for liquefaction

susceptibility

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0

25

50

75

100

0 30 59 89

Per

cent

fin

er t

han

5 µm

, d

5(%

)

Liq

uid

lim

it, L

L (%

)

Water content , WC

(%)

Modified Chinese criteria LL - MAT tailings

LL - SHEWC tailings LL - SUD tailings

LL - MW tailings LL - MW tailings - 5K

LL - MW tailings - 5B LL - MW tailings - 15B

LL - SHEEC tailings d5 - MAT tailings

d5 - SHEWC tailings d5 - SEBEC tailings

d5 - MW tailings d5 - SUD tailings

Not susceptible to liquefaction

Susceptible to liquefaction

Fig. 10 Modified Chinese

empirical criteria for

liquefaction susceptibility

Geotech Geol Eng

123

increase the liquid limit (LL) by 1% and increase the

water content (Wc) by 2% (Fig. 10).

Bray et al. (2004) have proposed an empirical

cyclic mobility criterion basing their laboratory work

and observations after the Kocaeli earthquake in

Turkey as follows: a soil deposit with a water content

(Wc) greater than or equal to 85% of the liquid limit

(LL) and plasticity index (PI) less than or equal to 12%

is susceptible to cyclic mobility under the application

of cyclic loading. They also proposed an empirical

criterion for soil deposits moderately susceptible to

cyclic mobility as follows: water content to liquid

limit ratio between 0.80 and 0.85 (0.80 \ Wc/

LL \ 0.85) and plasticity index between 12 and 20

(12 \ PI \ 20).

The Chinese criterion was applied to evaluate the

liquefaction potential of the tailings (Fig. 9). The

results showed that some of the tailings samples were

either not susceptible or at the borderline to liquefac-

tion even though the experimental results showed the

tailings were liquefied. The suitability of the modified

Chinese criterion following Finn et al. (1994) was

evaluated as shown in Fig. 10. Some of the tailings fall

in the category of ‘‘not susceptible to liquefaction’’ or

at the borderline which contradicts the results of the

present experimental investigation. Therefore, accord-

ing to the present study, the Chinese criterion and the

modified Chinese criterion by Finn et al. (1994)

may not be suitable for determining the liquefaction

susceptibility of mine tailings. Indeed, further

investigation needs to be carried out to verify the

applicability of the Chinese and modified Chinese

criteria.

The cyclic mobility criterion formulated by Bray

et al. (2004) was also used to evaluate the liquefaction

susceptibility of the mine tailings investigated in the

present study. As shown in Fig. 11, the results showed

that all of the tailings fall in the ‘‘potentially liquefi-

able’’ zone which agreed with the experimental

results. However, experimental studies for samples

falling on the boundary zone (i.e., ‘‘to be tested’’)

should be carried out to provide a conclusive case for

the adaptability of the empirical cyclic mobility

criterion proposed by Bray et al. (2004).

4 Summary and Conclusions

In the present study, a series of stress-controlled

isotropic and undrained cyclic triaxial tests were

carried out on mine tailings and natural soil samples to

examine the liquefaction potential and dynamic prop-

erties of tailings from four mine sites in Canada. In

addition, other standard laboratory experimental

investigations were carried out. Based on the results

of the study, the following conclusions are drawn.

0

4

8

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

44

48

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Pla

stic

ity

inde

x, P

I (%

)

wc/LL (-)

MAT tailings SHEWC tailings

SUD tailings MW tailings

MW tailings - 5K MW tailings - 5B

MW tailings - 15B SHEEC tailings

Not susceptible to liquefaction

Potentially liquefiable

To be tested

Fig. 11 Bray et al. (2004)

empirical criteria for

liquefaction susceptibility

Geotech Geol Eng

123

• The axial strain and excess pore water pressure

increased with the number of cycles, while the

effective stress decreased with increasing number

of cycles.

• The number of loading cycles that gave 5% double

amplitude axial strain showed a slight variation

from the number of loading cycles that gave a pore

pressure ratio of unity.

• As the void ratio increased, the cyclic strength

decreased and approached each other at high void

ratios.

• The liquefaction resistance of the tailings was not

strongly influenced by the plasticity index, for low

plasticity tailings.

• For the range of samples investigated, the mine

tailings showed higher resistance to liquefaction

than natural soil with similar particle size distri-

bution, void ratio and plasticity index.

• Based on more than 100 samples of mine tailings

samples obtained from four Canadian mine sites, a

boundary relationship between void ratio (ec) and

normalized cyclic resistance ratio (CRR/Gs) has

been established. It is verified that the liquefaction

resistance of mine tailings and natural soil samples

studied by different investigators (Sanin and

Wijewickreme 2006; Wijewickreme et al. 2005,

Sitharam et al. 2004 and Ishihara et al. 1980) fall

within the established boundary curves of the

present study. Mine tailings from different sources

should be investigated for further validation.

• The Chinese and modified Chinese criteria by Finn

et al. (1994) may not be suitable for determining

the liquefaction susceptibility of mine tailings.

However, further investigation needs to be carried

out to verify the applicability of the Chinese and

modified Chinese criteria.

Acknowledgments The work described in this paper was

supported with funding from the Natural Sciences and

Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) under an

Individual Discovery Grant awarded to Dr. E. K. Yanful.

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