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: [email protected]
E. K. Yanful
e-mail: [email protected]
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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