Oil sands tailings, a mixture of clay, sand, water and residual oil, is a by-product from the oil sands mining and extraction process in Alberta, Canada. This mixture is hydraulically transported and stored in engineered structures built with coarse sands separated from the oil sands tailings. The dimensions of these structures depend on the storage capacity retaining oil sands tailings. The structural integrity of these structures is governed by the strength of the coarse sands or their liquefaction potential.