ANALYSES OF FLOW FAILURES OF MINE TAILINGS DAMS 3

INVESTIGATION OF FLOW FAILURES

OF TAILINGS DAMS'1
Discussion by Steven G. Vick,3 M. ASCE

In their two companion papers, the authors indicate that flow-type

failures of tailings dams pose significant hazard to life and property.
While some tailings dams constructed with inadequate engineering at-
tention may have a relatively high potential for failure, many of these
same dams are in remote areas where hazard to life and property may
not be that great. By proposing a framework for estimating tailings flow
distances, the authors make a valuable contribution toward more ra-
tionally assessing the potential hazards of tailings dams in both devel-
oped and isolated settings. Also, to the extent that the design conserv-
atism of a tailings dam must be compatible with the hazard it poses, the
authors present a potentially valuable design tool.
However, the hazard posed by a dam is founded upon the nature,
both physical and chemical, of the materials that it retains. Comparison
of tailings to viscous oil or a Bingham fluid may be analytically appro-
priate so long as it is recognized that this analogy stems from theoretical
convenience and that the true nature of the material may be far more
complex.
The authors show that a theoretical distinction is necessary between
turbulent and laminar flow, and they divide tailings into two types,
"phosphate" and "other," to differentiate between tailings which are
likely to experience turbulent and laminar flow, respectively. However,
the complexity of tailings properties would seem to defy such a straight-
forward division. For example, the in-situ characteristics of tailings in
the "phosphate" category are not unique. Bromwell and Raden (20) show
that the water content of phosphatic clays may decrease nearly tenfold
and undrained shear strength may increase by a like amount (to values
of several hundred psf) due to self-weight consolidation. Thus, it ap-
pears that phosphatic clays could undergo either type of flow depending
on their in-situ properties. Similarly, the fine-grained slimes zone pres-
ent within most, if not all, types of "other" nonphosphate tailings de-
posits will contain an upper layer of unconsolidated "fluid" material and
a lower region of higher consolidation, density, and undrained shear
strength. Nearly all tailings deposits potentially susceptible to flow-type
failure contain materials which can be placed in either the "phosphate"
or "other" category, resulting in ambiguity in whether the turbulent or
laminar flow model should apply in use of the analysis as a predictive
tool.
In
„ t h e ! r ^ a s e s t u d y o f t h e Buffalo Creek failure, the authors imply that
the "fluid" character of flow is governed not only by the nature of the
tailings but also by the quantity of water involved. Virtually all tailings
"February, 1983, by Jey K. Jeyapalan, v J. Michael Duncan, and H. Bolton Seed
(Paper 17714).
"•February, 1983, by Jey K. Jeyapalan, J. Michael Duncan, and H. Bolton Seed
(Paper 17715).
3
Geotechmcal Section Head, Fox Consultants, Denver, Colo. 80215.
454
impoundments contain a decant pond of varying size, but it is unclear
at what point the quantity of impounded water will dominate the nature
of the tailings in producing turbulent flow. This factor may pose major
uncertainties in predictive applications of the analysis.
The authors show that plastic viscosity, f\p, and yield shear strength,
Ty, of the liquefied tailings are the fundamental variables governing flow
behavior, and that values of these variables may range over a factor of
10 or more. The tailings dam designer has little guidance in estimating
these values based on the in-situ engineering properties of a given tail-
ings deposit, and the analytical results appear to be quite sensitive to
the values used. For example, the value of r\v for the Aberfan case study
can be shown to correspond to an initial water content of 12% based on
Eq. 1 in the second paper. While this may be a reasonable estimate of
water content [based on descriptions by Bishop (21) indicating that the
Aberfan waste pile did not impound water and was probably not fully
saturated], it should be noted that an increase of 10% in the assumed
water content to a value of 22% would have produced nearly a tenfold
reduction in r\r. This factor will be especially important in applying the
method to most tailings embankments which contain both saturated and
unsaturated zones and have water contents which typically vary by a
factor of three or more.
Similarly, there is little guidance for selection of Ty. In electing not to
apply the previous work of Okudo, et al. (15,16,17), the authors imply
that the range of grain size distribution is important. However, their
case studies do not make it clear how gradation affects Ty values selected
for materials which range from coarse and well-graded (coal refuse) to
fine and poorly-graded (gypsum tailings). While the authors allude to
the use of a "simple slope stability analysis" to backcalculate Ty, the
writer questions how such an analysis can be used to infer the strength
of the liquefied tailings during active flow, particularly considering that
flow-type movement by definition is dominated by internal deforma-
tions without a well-defined internal sliding surface. Backcalculation of
parameters may limit the value of the authors' gypsum embankment
case study in verifying the usefulness of their analysis as a predictive
tool. In addition, the authors do not address how the in-situ strength
behavior of tailings which may trigger flow failure, such as reviewed by
Highter and Tobin (22), influences the value of Ty once failure has been
initiated, if indeed it does. Nor is comment offered on how possible in-
situ cementation of gypsum tailings (Vick, 23) could influence the ap-
plication of the gypsum embankment case history to other types of unce-
mented tailings.
Finally, intuition would suggest that the mechanism of failure should
have some effect on the nature of the flow slide which results. For ex-
ample, it is the writer's experience that most tailings dam failures are
precipitated by improper control of ponded water which results in pip-
ing failure or overtopping. For such failures described by Nelson and
Kane (24) and Toland (25) and for undocumented overtopping failures
of a copper tailings dam in Mexico and a gypsum tailings dam in Mis-
sissippi, the embankments were breached only over a relatively narrow
section. The water or liquefied tailings tend to flow through a con-
stricted, funnel-like orifice which could produce very different results
455
from the author's two-dimensional model. It is also significant that for
the latter two embankments cited previously (which were similar in type
and configuration to the authors' gypsum tailings embankment) major
flow of tailings through the breach did not occur, other than that re-
sulting from erosional downcutting by the decant pond water. This ob-
servation emphasizes the authors' caution that their method applies only
once flow-type failure has been initiated and does not address either the
likelihood of failure or whether, in fact, significant flow will occur even
if the dam is breached. In addition, the consequences of flow during
seismic failure are of major concern in some cases, but regrettably the
authors do not provide case studies of the more celebrated such tailings
dam failures in Chile and Japan. If seismic liquefaction is the mechanism
by which flow is initiated, it would appear reasonable that seismic shak-
ing could influence whether turbulent or laminar conditions apply in
addition to having an effect on Ty and vv. In fact, Yen (26) quotes values
of viscosity for saturated medium sand near liquefaction which differ
from the authors' typical values for "other" (presumably sand) tailings
by 3-4 orders of magnitude.
Because of the difficulties discussed, it would seem that the proposed
method requires considerably more investigation into the actual char-
acteristics of tailings, tailings embankments, and tailings impoundments
before it can be applied in practice with reasonable confidence.

APPENDIX.—REFERENCES

20. Bromwell, L. G., and Raden, D. J., "Disposal of Phosphate Mining Wastes,"
Current Geotechnical Practice in Mine Waste Disposal, ASCE, 1979, pp. 88-
112.
21. Bishop, A. W., "The Stability of Tips and Spoil Heaps," Quarterly Journal of
Engineering Geology, Vol. 6, 1973, pp. 335-376.
22. Highter, W. H., and Tobin, R. F., "Flow Slides and the Undrained Brittleness
Index of Some Mine Tailings," Engineering Geology, Vol. 16, 1980, pp. 71-82.
23. Vick, S., "Rehabilitation of a Gypsum Tailings Embankment," Proceedings
Conference on Geotechnical Practice for Disposal of Solid Waste Materials, A
Ann Arbor, Mich., 1977, pp. 697-714.
24. Nelson, J., and Kane, J., "Failure of the Church Rock Tailings Dam," Pro-
ceedings Third Symposium on Uranium Mill Tailings Management, Colorado S
Univ., Colo., 1980, pp. 505-512.
25. Toland, G., "Case History of Failure and Reconstruction of the Mike Horse
Tailings Dam near Lincoln, Montana," Proceedings 15th Annual Engineering
Geology and Soil Engineering Symposium, Idaho State Univ., Idaho, 1977, pp
293-310.
26. Yen, B., "Viscosity of Sands Near Liquefaction," Proceedings, International
Symposium on Wave Propagation and Dynamic Properties of Earth Material,
Albuquerque, N.M., 1967, pp. 877-888.

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