Effect of Pore Pressure Migration on Slope Stability: A Case History

A 150m high mine slope has been subject to movement, requiring the mine to reduce the slope steepness while extensive investigation and analysis is undertaken. This reduction in ore production has major implications for the economical viability of the mine. Golder & Associates, the engineer for the mining company, has numerically modelled the slope using available commercial software; however, commercially available soil behaviour models have proved inadequate, in part because changing pore water pressure in the slope body is suspected to be a main factor in the slope deformations and the commercial soil models do not accurately represent this. Hence, a model which can realistically capture soil behaviour, including pore pressure generation, needs to be implemented within commercial software. Thus, the proposed research aims to calibrate and verify the advanced “NorSand” soil model and use it to analyze the behaviour of a mine slope. The role of pore water pressure in the mechanical behaviour of the slope will be investigated also.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Dawn Shuttle

Student:

Mohsen Ghafghazi

Partner:

Golder Associates

Discipline:

Sector:

Mining and quarrying

University:

University of British Columbia

Program: