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Characterisation of overburden dump materials: a case study from the Wardha

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DOI: 10.1007/s10064-015-0830-x

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Bull Eng Geol Environ
DOI 10.1007/s10064-015-0830-x
ORIGINAL PAPER
Characterisation of overburden dump materials: a case study
from the Wardha valley coal field
Radhakanta Koner1 • Debashish Chakravarty1
Received: 3 September 2015 / Accepted: 27 November 2015
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
Abstract Recently, large-scale opencast mining activities
in India have led not only to the increased generation of
large volumes of overburden (OB) dump materials, but also
to the transportation of huge volumes of loose geo-mate-
rials from coal faces to areas specifically designated for
storing these materials in the form of external or internal
dumps. The preparation of large-sized dumps is becoming
a challenging task for the mining administration from two
important perspectives, namely the limited availability of
surface leasehold land for dumping geo-materials, and the
associated problems of managing the increasing heights of
these geo-structures. Normally, the assessment of stability,
and taking proper steps to stabilise these external OB
dumps, is a trivial task, but because of the increased risks
involved with geo-hazards, the design and monitoring of
such dumps is currently becoming critical for the produc-
tion/operation of any mining organisation. Thus, a knowl-
edge and awareness of the detailed nature and mechanical
properties of the selected geo-materials present at these
sites is becoming more important for stability assessment
of OB dumps. In this study, the collected geo-materials
(which are agglomerates of broken rocks and loose soil)
were tested to evaluate their geotechnical parameters such
as grain size distribution, soil permeability, compaction
parameters, shear and normal strength characteristics, etc.
These tests show that testing of geo-materials from one site
is not sufficient for complete and proper site characterisa-
tion that would allow these values to be used subsequently
in numerical modelling to quantify the stability of OB
& Radhakanta Koner
rkkoner@gmail.com
1
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT Kharagpur,
Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India
dumps. Therefor, it was decided that a geotechnical data-
base for groups of geo-materials needs to be generated for
the complete evaluation of OB dump stability for all mine
sites in the areas of interest.
Keywords Overburden dump material  Grain size
distribution  Atterberg limit  Shear strength  Hydraulic
conductivity
Introduction
The increase in the demand for energy and raw materials
for development work is correlated with the extraction of
natural resources through opencast mining methods.
Recently, large-scale opencast mining activities in India
have led not only to the increased generation of large
volumes of overburden (OB) dump materials, but also to
the transportation of huge volumes of loose geo-materials
from coal faces to areas specifically designated for storing
these materials in the form of external or internal dumps.
Under the constraints of limited lease-hold areas, as well as
increasing seam depth, the heights of these OB dumps are
increasing more than ever. In general, coal extraction from
opencast mining methods is a comparatively easy option
compared to underground methods. The increasing heights
of OB dump slopes is being addressed technically using the
available geo-mechanical parameters of the constituent
materials as well as the environmental conditions on a local
scale. This calls for a very detailed understanding of the
different parameters important for the numerical analysis
of the stability of these dumps.
The field and laboratory determination of the geotech-
nical characteristics of OB materials is essential to the
proper design and development of sustainable (eco-
123

friendly, techno-socially feasible and cost effective) OB
dump management approaches. The main challenge asso-
ciated with these geo-materials is that they are heteroge-
neous, which in turn arises from their parent geology
(material properties and mineral composition), mining
operation (blasting with production planning and
sequencing) and construction (transportation and dumping)
practices, and climatic conditions (temperature and pre-
cipitation) in the local area.
The inherent geo-technical properties of OB materials
deeply influence the overall stability of steep and high
standing (90–120 m) slopes (Koner and Chakravarty
2010), and the in situ hydrologic behaviour of mine OB
dumps (Valenzuela et al. 2008).
Material heterogeneity is a particularly important
parameter for large-scale mining operations. Huge quanti-
ties of OB materials with minimal or no economic value
are generated as byproducts of these operations over a
number of years. The waste OB materials comprise low-
grade and barren materials that have to be first excavated in
order to access the underlying ore body/coal seam. It may
also be noted that, during the mining operation, intact rocks
and soil strata belonging to different geological bands are
broken down to various degrees of fragmentation by
movement of vehicles/blasting operations, and are depos-
ited sequentially along side, where the material naturally
develops a high angle of repose (approximately 38°) on the
dump slope face. It is well known that, in the conventional
OB dump construction method (end dumping), geo-mate-
rial segregation takes place since large-sized fragments
travel longer distances compared to fine grains/particles
(Nichol et al. 2000). This gives rise to bulging of OB dump
slopes, which in turn is dependent on the inherent micro-
mechanical interactions and the OB material properties that
are the constituents of the same.
As the face advances, heterogeneity within the OB
dump materials gradually increases owing to repetitive
trafficking of heavy machinery in a completely random
manner. The structural mapping of the deposit is also
influenced and modified due to the variation in complex
weathering processes over a long period of time. Azam
et al. (2007) divided these phenomena into physical (e.g.,
abrasion, crushing, growth of mineral, slaking due to vol-
ume changes in clay minerals etc.) and chemical (e.g.,
dissolution, oxidation, hydrolysis, diffusion and precipita-
tion) processes. The corresponding degradation of the
grains, followed by the subsequent development of clays,
takes place over time, and the rate of this evolution is
influenced greatly by the climate. Thus, it may be stated
that the local climatic conditions at the mine site influence
the compositional transformations and geotechnical beha-
viour of the deposited geo-material in any man-made geo-
structure, like that of external/internal OB dumps.
123
R. Koner, D. Chakravarty
Globally, almost all major mining projects are situated
in either arid or semi-arid regions where evapo-transpira-
tion exceeds the precipitation rate. This is one of the main
reasons why dump materials in such areas undergo alter-
nate wetting and desiccation phases owing to periodic
climatic variations. A clear understanding of the geo-ma-
terial properties during saturation and de-saturation stages,
along with a knowledge of the percentage of saturation, are
the key parameters in the design of a sustainable dump
structure and surroundings.
The main objective of this study was to determine the
geotechnical properties of mine OB dump materials under
saturated and unsaturated conditions, mainly to understand
their contribution towards the stability of such slopes.
Representative samples were collected from selected sites
of the OB dump surface in the mines of Wardha valley
coalfields situated in a tropical semi-arid (steppe) area. The
geotechnical properties were determined to classify the
geo-materials, followed by the determination of grain size
data and hydraulic conductivity functions. Finally, shear
strength properties were determined directly using the
direct shear test under laboratory conditions.
Wardha valley coalfields
The coal seams in the Wardha valley area are characterised
by almost flat seams varying in thickness from 0.2 to
20.0 m. The coal grade varies from B to F for non-coking
and middlings grade D [Western Coalfields limited (WCL);
http://westerncoal.nic.in/]. The areas of mining operation
are surrounded by forest on one side and national highways
on the other, while rivers keep the region bounded in the
remaining directions.
The stripping ratio is increasing day-by-day, and pre-
sently has a value of 8.26 m3/t (http://westerncoal.nic.in/).
Thus, the generation of OB dump materials is also
increasing with the production figures over the years. The
present average depth of working in these coal seams is
more than 100 m (http://westerncoal.nic.in/). One of the
main challenges being faced by the administration in the
operation of these mines is the handling of the generated
OB dump materials. Out of the two most commonly used
approaches, external OB dumping is practiced more than
the internal dumping approach. On the other hand, the
leasehold area is limited and cannot be extended in any
direction. Hence, field engineers need to accommodate the
increasing volume of OB dump materials in the available
surface area close to the mining operations (in order to
minimise transportation costs also). At times, the same area
is shared for dumping the geo-materials generated from
more than one mine. Due to this process, the heights of the
OB dumps are increasing, and the vulnerability of nearby
structures (normal households/forests/working benches,
Characterisation of overburden dump materials: a case study of Wardha valley coal field
etc.) is also increasing. In this context, proper geotechnical
site characterisation, and characterisation of OB dump
materials becomes extremely vital information for the
administration to implement careful strategies for min-
imising the possible geo-hazards in these OB dumps.
Thus, a geotechnical investigation to characterise the
site for technical analysis becomes the first step of any
scientific study either on the stability aspects of the huge
geo-structures or for environmental and safety audit
investigations. Internal dumps have been kept out of the
scope of this scientific study, since the main challenge
comes from external OB dumps. With this aim, different
mine sites were selected in the western part of India, where
the conditions of external OB dumping match that of the
requirements of this study, namely, the limitations of
ground surface availability with very typical site condi-
tions. This paper discusses in brief the sites selected and
the geotechnical results obtained from laboratory investi-
gations of the samples collected from the field. The three
major tasks carried out for the study of geo-material
characterisation were:
1. Site selection: samples were collected mainly from
different locations of the currently running dump,
although dead and vegetated dumps were examined
with fewer samples.
2. Sampling grid: the strategy followed for sample
collection was decided mainly by the number of
samples per dump, and their location, so that the dump
materials are represented equally in our experimental
investigations.
3. Laboratory tests: the tests carried out were: (I) sieve
analysis, (ii) Atterberg limits, (iii) direct shear test, (iv)
hydraulic conductivity tests, (v) soil compaction tests,
(vi) tri-axial tests and (vii) specific gravity
determination.
Location of the study area
In all, 11 mine sites were selected for the present study; the
locations of 9 out of these 11 mines along with the land
cover map considered for the present study are presented in
the Fig. 1. It may be observed that all these are from the
Kamtee series of coal formation available in this part of the
country. These are characterised by the presence of a top
layer of black cotton soil of varying thickness of about
4–8 m. One of the studied borehole logs is provided here to
aid understanding of the sequence of geological layering of
the strata in this area (Fig. 2). Additionally, these borehole
logs provide a rough estimate of the nature of OB and
interburden materials as well as aiding the design of proper
mining benches matching the mine automation plan in tune
with target production.
Geology of the area
The geological report of the Wardha valley coalfield
indicates the presence of a varied type of rock formations
in the area with an equally rich mineral wealth that con-
tributes to about 29 % of the value of total mineral pro-
duction of the state. The stratigraphic sequence is presented
in Table 1. Geologically, this area presents a variety of
statigraphic units right from Archaeans to recent alluvium
and laterites. This area is rich in deposits of various min-
erals like coal, iron, etc. It may also be seen that majority
of the available coal seams belong to the range of pre-
Cambian to the recent stratigraphic sequence.
A brief description of three of the important geological
formations observed here is given below.
Kamtee series
The Kamtee series comprises sandstones, silstones, varie-
gated clays and shales exposed over a wide area in Chan-
drapur district. In the eastern part of the district, a
maximum thickness of 500 m can be expected. These
sandstones are yellowish and white in colour, fine- to
coarse-grained, and in places ferruginous in nature.
Alluvium
In the whole of the district, alluvium is mostly river-allu-
vium, comprising sand, silt and clays. It is generally found
along the banks of the rivers and different drainage and
irrigation channels. The thickness varies from 8 m to 35 m
as observed along the Wardha, the Erai and the Wainganga
river courses. It also contains gravel along with sand, silt,
and clays in places.
Soil mantle
The black cotton soil is derived from Deccan traps com-
monly known as ‘‘Kali’’. Red soil is most common in the
area, covered by gneisses and other crystalline rocks. There
is a thin veneer of soil (approximately 8–15 m) overlying
the Gondwana formation in the north-western part of the
area.
Materials and methods
The study was carried out on samples collected from the
different dump locations of the mines, and laboratory-scale
tests were performed on these samples. The statistical
analysis was also carried out for the laboratory measured
parameters of the OB dump materials, and these were also
interpreted for their characterisation.
123
 R. Koner, D. Chakravarty

Fig. 1 Location of the different mine sites in the Wardha valley coalfields

Sample collection strategy because of the absence of a particular category of dump in

some of the selected mines.
Variations in the soil and rock characteristics, and the
varied complexity of dump conditions existing in the
Geotechnical testing of external OB dump samples
selected 11 mines of Wardha valley coalfields considered
for the present study, made the selection of sample col-
The collected geo-materials of the external overburden
lection methods of utmost importance. It was observed that
dumps are mainly mixtures of broken rocks and loose soil.
the dumps of these mine sites are of three different cate-
The proportion of loose soil was found to be more for the
gories (viz., running, old-vegetated and old-barren), hence
samples collected from the top locations of the dumps
a uniform sampling pattern of eight samples per dump was
compared to those collected from the bottom locations.
followed, taking a generalised approach to sampling from
This pattern of the dump materials has been attributed
each of the stages (benches) found in these dumps (Koner
mainly to the age of the dumps, and hence the dumps at
2010). The sample collection positions are: five samples
each mine site have been categorised into three different
from bottom and top benches, one from middle bench and
types of dumps for the present study, as follows:
two from the top of the dump as shown in Fig. 3, which is
just a schematic representation, and not to the scale and 1. Running dumps: where active dumping of OB mate-
shape of the existing dumps. Thus, a total of 252 samples rials is being carried out. After reaching a certain
was collected instead of 264 (i.e. eight samples per dump 9 desired height over a certain planned area further
three categories of dump per mine 9 11 mine sites) dumping would be stopped.

123
Characterisation of overburden dump materials: a case study of Wardha valley coal field

Fig. 3 Schematic sample collection program from a representative

dump (eight samples per dump)

et al. 2009) in analysis of site conditions and design of

external mine dumps, were applied in the present
investigation:
1.
2.
Fig. 2 A sample borehole log from one of the dump sites at Wardha
valley coalfields
2. Old dumps: where dumping has been stopped for a few
years with no plan of dumping by the mines authority
in the near future.
3. Vegetated dumps: where green reclamation has already
been adopted/achieved and there are no further plans
for dumping.
Since a detailed investigation of the material charac-
teristics and the site conditions, following standard proce-
dures, forms the first part of any geotechnical study, the
following parameters most commonly used by geotechni-
cal engineers (Tesarik and McKibbin 1999; McLemore
Unit weight: cumulative weight of the solid parti-
cles/grains, water and air in the material per unit
volume.
Grain size distribution: analysis of the grain size is
required to understand the hydrological and structural
properties of external dump. This test is used primarily
to determine the grading of geo-materials composing
the external overburden dump. The results are used to
determine the compliance of the grain size distribution
to provide the necessary data for adopting suitable sta-
bility measures at the OB dump slopes. The data may
also be useful in developing relationships concerning
porosity and packing density. Accurate determination
of the proportion of material finer than the 75-lm sieve
(No. 200) could not be achieved by the use of present
test method alone (ASTM C 136). The true grain size
distribution of external OB dump soils may be difficult
to obtain (Valenzuela et al. 2008), because of material
heterogeneity, and the presence of large cobbles and
boulders, which are typically excluded from grain size
analysis.

Table 1 Stratigraphic and geological sequence of formation in the Wardha valley coalfields
Age Formation Rock types

Recent to subrecent Alluvium, soils laterites Sand, clay, silt, soils and laterites
Lower eocene to upper Deccan traps Basalts, weathered, vesicular and massive basalts
cretaceour
Triassic Upper Gondwanas group maleris Clay, shales, sandstones
Lower triassic to upper Lower Gondwanas group: Kamthis Barakars Reddish brown sandstone sahle clay light grey to white
carboniferous Talchirs felspathic sandstones, coal seams and clay greenish to
dark olive green coloured shales and coarse grained
sandstones
Pre-Cambrian Vindhyans Shales, sandstones, flaggy and massive limestones and
sandstones of variegated colours
Archaeans Crystallines and older metamorphics Gneisses, quartzites, schists with acid and basic intrusives

123

3. Porosity: this is the ratio of the volume of voids in a
sample to the total volume of the sample expressed
as a percentage. Void ratio is the ratio of the
volume of voids to the volume of solid particles in a
sample.
4. Permeability/hydraulic conductivity test: a measure of
the ability of water to flow through the soil, expressed
in units of velocity. The hydraulic conductivity of the
OB dump materials were studied using the standard
Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of the permeability test setup under
constant head conditions
Fig. 5 Schematic representation showing a the direct shear test setup and b the sample in the shear box with the stress diagram
123
R. Koner, D. Chakravarty
test method for permeability of granular soils under
constant head (ASTM D 2434). Figure 4 depicts the
methods for conducting the permeability test.
5. Shear strength: defined as the amount of shear stress a
sample can resist without failing. Estimations of the
angle of friction and cohesion of dump soils were
carried out using the results of the direct shear test
(ASTM D 3080). The tests were repeated at three
different normal loads to obtain the corresponding
shear loads. The test setup used and the stress diagram
in the shear box are shown in Fig. 5.
6. Atterberg limits: liquid limit, and plastic limit, related
to the plasticity of soil provide the Atterberg limit for
the tested material. This may be used in estimating
other engineering properties of a soil and in soil
classification. The setup used is depicted in Fig. 6.
7. Soil compaction: soil compaction occurs when heavy
machinery compresses the soil, causing it to remove
the pore spaces. Soil compaction may also occur due to
the lack of water in the soil.
8. Triaxial test: in a triaxial test setup, the axial stress and
radial stress were applied concurrently to the speci-
men. Radial pressure was generated by placing the
specimen in a pressurised water bath enclosed in a
steel-walled chamber (as presented in Fig. 7, GDS
setup; http://www.gdsinstruments.com). Axial load
was generated by a hydraulic ram incorporated into the
vessel. A standard test method for consolidated
undrained triaxial compression test (ASTM D 4767)
was conducted for determination of material strength
characteristics in this study. Only samples from the
running dump sites were tested with the GDS triaxial
testing facility available in the laboratory.
Characterisation of overburden dump materials: a case study of Wardha valley coal field
Fig. 6 a Casagrande cup, and
b soil consistency
Fig. 7 a GDS triaxial testing equipment. b Samples with different
principal stresses acting during the test
Results of laboratory-based geotechnical studies
This section provides the results of laboratory tests carried
out for the 252 samples for determining the strength
characteristics and physical properties of the collected OB
dump materials.
Sieve analysis
Sieve analysis of all the running OB dump soil samples
was carried out following ASTM standard methods
(ASTM-C 136). A dry sample of 500 g was used in a
mechanical sieve shaker. Figure 8 summarises the aver-
age values of grain size distribution for dump site M 2
(referring to Fig. 1). The percentage of sand for medium
and fine size-ranges of the mine dump soils vary from
15 % to 65 %, and 30 % to 70 %, respectively. The
majority of the observed distributions support the gener-
alised classification SM in accordance with the universal
soil classification system (ASTM D 2487) for the present
external OB dump materials. Similar analyses were done
for the remaining ten mine sites, and the summarised
results of overall classification of the dump soil are pro-
vided in Table 3.
Atterberg limit determination
The Atterberg limit values were determined for all 252
samples from two tests, namely the liquid limit and plastic
limit, which provide empirical information on the reaction
of fines present in the soil (i.e. size fraction less than
75 lm) to water using the standard procedure described at
ASTM D 4318. The two main uses of the Atterberg limit
values are in the classification and behavioural analysis of
the materials in the case of liquid, plastic, and brittle solids.
The two tests mentioned are above water content tests that
categorise the upper and lower limits of water contents at
which a cohesive soil would remain as a solid, plastic mass
and can support some load. Above the upper water content
level, defined as the liquid limit (LL), the soil will flow as a
semi-viscous liquid. Below the lower water content, defined
as plastic limit (PL), the soil behaves as a brittle mass. With
the range of the two water content levels, defined as the
plasticity index (PI), the material behaves as a plastic mass
(Fig. 6b) capable of supporting some load. The soil is clas-
sified using the plasticity chart as shown in Fig. 9 (IS:
1498-1970). A plot of the values of LL and PI on this
chart was used to establish the soil types as well as the degree
of plasticity (low, L, or high, H). The PI is dependent on the
mineralogy of the clay material present (Fig. 9). The LL was
determined by placing the prepared sample, following stan-
dard norms, in a Casagrande cup and counting the number of
blows required for both ends to touch (Fig. 6a); the average of
four observations were plotted on a graph, and the y-axis
value corresponding to 25 blows gives the LL (Fig. 10).
The classification was accomplished with the determi-
nation of the LL, PL and PI as:
PI ¼ LLPL
A plasticity chart with PI on the y-axis and LL on the x-
axis was drawn (Fig. 11) and a unified soil classification
symbol of SM for the present OB geo-materials was
determined from the PI versus LL plot.
123
 R. Koner, D. Chakravarty

Grain Size Distributions

U.S. Standard Sieve Sizes Hydrometer Analysis
1
6" 4" 3" 2" 1" /2 " #3 #6 #8 #16 #30 #50 #100 #200 #400
100 0
Overburden Dumps Material---a
Overburden Dumps Material---b
Overburden Dumps Material---c
90 10

80 20
Percent Finer by Weight

Percent Coarser by Weight

70 30

60 40

50 50

40 60

30 70

20 80

10 90

0 100
1000 500 100 50 10 5 1 0.5 0.1 0.05 0.01 0.005 0.001
Grain Size in Millimeters
Gravel Sand
Cobbles Silt or Clay
Coarse Fine C Medium Fine

Fig. 8 Grain size distribution from dump site no. 2

Plasticity Index

4
3.5
3
2.5
2
14.00 16.00 18.00 20.00 22.00 24.00 26.00
Liquid Limit

Fig. 11 Plasticity chart for the dump material tested in this study

In fine-grained geo-materials, the term plasticity, which

relates to the strength, describes the ability of the geo-
Fig. 9 Standard plasticity chart as per IS: 1498-1970 material to undergo unrecoverable deformation at constant
volume without cracking or crumbling. Highly plastic clays
are those that tend to swell with water content, and have an
Moisture (%)

52
50 LL higher than 50. Low plasticity fines are those that do
48
46 not swell and have LL \ 50. The 50 mark along the x-axis,
44 shown in Fig. 11, is used to separate high and low plas-
42 ticity geo-materials. The mean PI of the different external
14 19 24 29 34 39
No. of Blows
OB dumps materials for ten sites in this investigation is
plotted in Fig. 12.
Fig. 10 Moisture content versus no. of blows for determination of From the results obtained for this section it may be
liquid limit of overburden (OB) dump sample concluded that the average PL of the OB dump materials

123
Characterisation of overburden dump materials: a case study of Wardha valley coal field
Plasticity Index
4
3 60
2 40
1 20
0 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Mine site
Fig. 12 Average plasticity index (PI) of the external dump soils
was observed to be below 4 and that for the LL, was
determined to be below 50, so these dumps materials have
no swelling characteristics.
Direct shear test
The intercept on the y-axis of the line joining three coor-
dinates in normal stress and shear stress plots gives a
measure of the cohesion, where the slope of the line rep-
resents the friction angle of the OB dump materials. The
results of the average values of cohesion (kPa) and friction
angle (°) were summarised and are plotted for all 11 mine
sites in Figs. 13 and 14.
The cohesion plots (Fig. 13) indicate that mine sites 1,
2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 have cohesion values less than 20 kPa,
whereas for mine site 3 it is close to 20 kPa and for mine
sites 4, 5, 10 and 11 it is more than 20 kPa. The highest
value of cohesion was obtained for mine site 11 in the geo-
materials obtained from the dead and vegetated dumps.
Running dumps do not exist for mine site 11, since they do
not perform external OB dumping; all the current dumps
are internal in nature at this site. It was also observed that
the cohesion values for the running dumps are close to zero
except for the mine sites 3, 4, 5 and 10. Low values of
cohesion imply close to granular material composition for
these dump geo-materials. It was also observed that the
pattern of variation of the cohesion values for geo-mate-
rials of the studied mine sites was highest for vegetated
dumps followed by those for old dumps and running
dumps. Thus, the material composition for running dumps
was noted to be critical for stability analysis of these
dumps, meaning that the geometry/dimension defined for
the safest running dump would also be safe for the other
Old Dump Sample Vegetated Dump Sample Running Dump Sample
Cohesion (kPa)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0 test for OB geo-materials of each of the 11 mine sites. The
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Mine Site
Fig. 13 Average cohesion for three different dumps per mine
Friction Angle (deg.)
Old Dump Sample Vegetated Dump Sample Running Dump Sample
50
30
0
9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Mine Site
Fig. 14 Average friction angle for three different dumps per mine
two categories of dumps considered for the present study,
where the environmental and climatic conditions are
assumed to remain the same.
Similar analyses were carried out for the angle of fric-
tion values (Fig. 14) of the OB geo-materials. It was seen
that the dump materials of mine site 2 had the highest
friction angle from the running dump materials followed by
the geo-materials obtained from mine sites 1, 8, 6, 9, 4, 7,
3, 10 and 5 in decreasing order of friction angle values. The
variation in friction angle values followed the same pattern
as that of the cohesion values among the running, vegetated
and old dump types.
Hydraulic conductivity test
Figure 15 provides a plot of the average hydraulic con-
ductivity values for dump materials of each of the 11 mine
sites considered. The hydraulic conductivity values of the
11 OB dump site samples can be classified under low
degree of permeability (Bear 1972). The hydraulic con-
ductivity values were observed to fall between
4.99 9 10-5 and 1.52 9 10-3 cm/s. Hence, it may be
concluded here based on the hydraulic conductivity values
obtained that the dump materials would show poor water
drainage capacity. This would call for proper placement of
a garland drainage system that would need to be specifi-
cally designed exclusively for proper utilisation of the
drainage system.
Compaction test
Compaction refers to the densification of the geo-samples
using mechanical energy. A particular amount of moisture
content value for a soil exists at which the maximum unit
weight may be observed. A modified proctor test was used
to determine the compaction characteristics of the OB
dump materials studied in this investigation (ASTM D
1557). Figure 16 shows the results of the modified proctor
9 10 11
average values of dry unit weight were found to lie
between 14.88 and 18.10 kN/m3. The maximum dry unit
weight was obtained from the results of this study, and was
123
 R. Koner, D. Chakravarty

Fig. 15 Average hydraulic

Hydraulic Conductivity (10^-3

conductivity of running dumps
samples by site (value for site 1.6
11 is represented by dead dump 1.4
samples) 1.2
1

cm/s)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Mine Site

used to determine porosity and the void ratio of the OB at the bottom platen of the GDS assembly, samples do not
dump samples, as explained earlier. This test was carried reflect the initial gradient of the curve correctly, as can be
out for all OB geo-material samples from each particular observed in Fig. 17. The corresponding Mohr-envelope
mine site for running dump samples only, except for mine has been plotted in Fig. 18. It can be observed that,
site number 11, where old dump samples were used. although the running dump samples had shown very little
From Fig. 16, the maximum dry unit weight in the geo- to no cohesion in the direct shear tests (mentioned in
material samples was found at mine site 1, with the mini- earlier), they showed considerable cohesion value at tri-
mum value being found in mine site 6. The dry unit weight axial tests, averaging 20 kPa (Fig. 18). The lower the
decreased in sequence for the samples of the mine sites in values of cohesion, the greater the chances of dump
the order 10, 4, 9, 2, 7, 5, 3, 8 and 11. failure.
Due to the inaccuracy that can occur in any of the
associated manual jobs of compaction, erection, and setup Specific gravity determination

A water pycnometer was used to determine the specific

gravity (ASTM D 854) of the OB dump soils passing
Dry Unit Weight (kN/m3)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
18.5 through a No. 4 sieve for all collected samples. Figure 19
17.5 summarises the average specific gravity of the running
16.5 dump samples for all 11 mine sites. It can be seen from
15.5 Fig. 19 that the maximum specific gravity values occurred
14.5 for geo-materials from mine site 2, followed by mine sites
13.5 5, 4, 11, 3, 10, 7, 6, 9, 8 and 1 in decreasing order. Higher
7 12 17 22 27 32 37
specific gravity implies higher self loading factor and vice
Water Content (%)
versa, hence the OB dumps of mine site 1 would experi-
Fig. 16 Modified proctor compaction curves from all running dumps ence the least self weight whereas those of mine site 2
of mine sites would experience the maximum.

Fig. 17 Mean deviatoric stress Confining Pressure 200 KPa Confining Pressure 300 KPa
versus strain curves at three Confining Pressure 500 KPa
different confining pressures of 350
Deviatoric Stress (KPa)

200, 300 and 500 kPa for

300
samples from mine site 2
250

200

150

100

50

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
Strain

123
Characterisation of overburden dump materials: a case study of Wardha valley coal field

35
30

Porosity (%)
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Mine site
Fig. 18 Mohr-envelope for the dumps material samples with = 30°
Fig. 21 Average porosity of running dump samples from 11 mine
sites
3
Porosity determination
Specific Gravity

2.5
2 The porosity values of the samples of OB geo-materials
1.5 were determined from the void ratio values found earlier
1 for the respective samples. The variations in average
0.5 porosity of running dump samples of different mine sites
0 are displayed in Fig. 21.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Maximum porosity was observed for OB geo-materials
Mine Site
obtained from mine site 6, with minimum porosity for
Fig. 19 Average specific gravity of running dump samples for 11 those of mine site 8. A decreasing order of variation in
mines porosity values was noted for the geo-materials collected
from mine sites 2, 5, 3, 4, 7, 10, 1 and 9 in sequence.
Void ratio analysis
Porosity values directly impact the flow of fluids within the
dump mass. Lower porosity values indicate higher water
The void ratio was determined from the maximum dry unit
retention capability, thus extra steps must be taken in such
weight (obtained from modified proctor test) and specific
cases to keep the dump as dry as possible.
gravity of the samples using a well defined relationship
(ASTM D 7263). Figure 20 shows the variations in the
Observations
average void ratio of running dump samples from different
mine sites. The maximum void ratio was found for mine
The laboratory-based geotechnical tests carried out on the
site 6 and the minimum for mine site 8. A decreasing order
collected OB dump materials in this study, namely sieve
of variation in the void ratio was observed in the OB geo-
analysis, Atterberg limit test, direct shear test, hydraulic
materials collected from mine sites in the order 2, 5, 3, 4, 7,
conductivity test, compaction test, triaxial test, specific
10, 1, and 9. A high value of void ratio as in the case of OB
gravity test, void ratio and porosity determination, were
geo-materials obtained from mine site 6 implies the pos-
further used to categorise the different OB dump materials
sibility of achieving greater compaction in future, thus
into either single or different classes for ease of analysis
more volume accommodation in a limited ground space
and interpretation.
may be achieved. Conversely, for the OB dumps created
Using the concepts of significance test, the OB geo-
from the geo-materials of mine site 8 that show the lowest
materials were analysed and found to belong to different
void ratio values, the compaction, and hence the volume
populations from the point of view of geotechnical prop-
accommodation, would be expected to be less in future.
erties. The results for two of the geotechnical parameters,
0.45
namely void ratio and specific gravity are listed in Table 2;
0.4 within group variance can be seen to be much lower then
0.35
Void Rao

0.3 between groups variance, which implies that the tested OB

0.25 geo-material samples belong to different groups with dif-
0.2
0.15 ferent material properties and behaviour depending on
0.1
0.05
geotechnical conditions. Hence, a single design model for
0 analysing and minimising the geo-hazards from all these
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
OB dumps may not be sufficient under the field conditions
Mine site
studied.
Fig. 20 Average void ratio of running dump samples from 11 Similar statistical significance tests were carried out for
different mine sites all the parameters tested for all the collected OB geo-

123
 R. Koner, D. Chakravarty

Table 2 One-way ANOVA for

Sum of squares df Mean square F Significance
physical properties of running
dump materials Void ratio
Between groups 0.899 9 0.100 38.609 0.000
Within groups 0.181 70 0.003
Total 1.080 79
Specific gravity
Between groups 3.431 9 0.381 61.293 0.000
Within groups 0.435 70 0.006
Total 3.867 79

materials from the 11 mine sites, and almost similar results
were achieved in the majority of cases. Thus, it may be
concluded that the 11 mine sites belonged to 11 different
geotechnical groups, and that their stability assessment
would thus need a minimum of 11 different combinations
of the modelling parameter for a satisfactory output.
Classification of OB dump materials
classified in the SM category, implying that they are
slightly compressible and expansive in nature (ASTM
D2487-10). These geo-materials provide good shear resis-
tance when compacted and saturated. The degree of
expansion may be inferred to be low vis-a-vis the degree of
severity to be in the non-critical range for the studied dump
materials used in this study.

The results of the laboratory-based tests described above Conclusions

form the preliminary steps needed in studies conducted on
OB dump materials aimed at classifying the constituent
dump materials. Thus, the mineralogical composition, pH
etc., of the samples were also studied. The OB dump soil
was observed to be brown to gray in colour. The basic
aggregate geotechnical properties of the dump soil passing
ASTM No. 40 sieve (425 lm) are summarised in Table 3.
The dump materials were found to be neutral. The clay
content of the dump materials was negligible or nil, indi-
cating the granular nature of these OB geo-materials, which
have been noted to be poor in terms of their hydraulic
conductivity, necessitating proper drainage at the toe of the
external OB dump slope for better stability and minimised
geo-hazards risks. These OB geo-materials have been
In the present investigation, typical OB dump materials
from 11 different mine sites were selected according to
field availability in Wardha valley coalfields. The dump
materials were collected from all three types of dumps,
namely vegetated dumps, old dumps and running dumps.
At 8 samples per dump, a total of 252 samples was col-
lected for this investigative work. The geotechnical
strength properties and physical properties were charac-
terised easily using methods laid down in ASTM standards.
The analyses of the three different types of OB geo-ma-
terials showed that the shear strength properties for the
running dump materials were the lowest of all the 11 sites
studied (Figs. 13, 14). Thus, a stable slope for the weakest

Table 3 Average range values

Test no. Parameter Range of value
for the properties of dump
materials (considering all three 1 pH 7.3–7.55
types of dumps studied)
2 Liquid limit (%) 14.14–26.40
3 Plastic limit (%) 12.12–22.63
4 Plastic index (%) 2.02–3.77
5 Proctor’s compaction
Optimum moisture content (%) 12.87–24.59
3
Proctor’s maximum dry unit weight (kN/m ) 14.88–18.10
6 Grain size distribution
Medium sand (%) 15–65
Fine sand (%) 30–70
7 Classification (ASTM D 2487—unified soil SM
classification system)
8 Specific gravity 1.6–2.5

123
Characterisation of overburden dump materials: a case study of Wardha valley coal field
material would definitely satisfy the stability requirements
for the other OB geo-materials with higher strength
parameter values. Additionally, the task of optimisation of
external OB dump geometry is integrated with the running
dump materials. Thus, for all further investigation into the
stability of these slopes, the properties of the running dump
were utilised. Since no OB geo-material for the running
dump was available for mine site 11, all the parameters
obtained from the laboratory tests of the OB geo-materials
obtained from the other two types of dumps were used for
characterisation.
Again, according to the laboratory-based results of sieve
analysis, the OB geo-materials were classified into the SM
category. Average specific gravity values were observed to
vary from 1.79 to 2.47, the average cohesion values and the
average friction angle values varied from 0 to 117.6 kPa
and 17.7° to 51.1°, respectively. The average values of dry
unit weight were found to lie between 14.88 and 18.10 kN/
m3. The mean hydraulic conductivity values fell between
4.99 9 10-5 and 1.52 9 10-3 cm/s. The average value of
PI of the dump material was below 4.0. It should be noted
that the values of PL, void ratio, compaction and perme-
ability properties were determined from the running
external dump materials for the 11 mine sites. Statistical
significance tests revealed wide variation amongst the
dump materials of each of the 11 mine sites, which makes
the development of a single generalised strategy for over-
coming the problems of instability and associated geo-
hazards of these dumps slopes really difficult and complex.
Acknowledgments The authors wish to extend their sincere thanks
to the officials of Western coalfields limited (http://westerncoal.nic.in/)
and Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of
Science and Technology, Government of India for their consistent
support to collect data and the financial help extended by them to carry
out this works (Grant No. ETA-405/2012).
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