The Application of the Seismic Cone Penetration Test (SCPTU) in Tailings Water Conditions Monitoring

Abstract

The safe operation of the large, outflow Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF) requires comprehensive and continuous threat monitoring. One of the basic kinds of threat monitoring is to monitor the water conditions in deposited tailings, which is usually carried out using a conventional piezometric observation method from a network of installed piezometers. In complex tailings storage conditions, the reliability of the piezometric method may be questioned. The Seismic Cone Penetration Test (SCPTU) can meet high test standards. The results of the penetration tests closely identify conditions of sediments that determine the tailings water regime verified locally on the basis of pore water pressure dissipation tests. On the other hand, seismic measurements perfectly complement the characteristics of sediments in terms of their saturation. The analysis of the results of SCPTU implemented in the tailings massif also showed that below the phreatic surface, a zone of not fully saturated tailings can be found. Its presence improves the stability conditions of the tailings massif and dams, but also limits the possibility of the static liquefaction of tailings.

Tailings Behavior Assessment Using Piezocone Penetration Test

“…The Żelazny Most Tailings Storage Facility (Figure 1) was put into operation on 12 February 1977, during the final phase of the Gilów storage operation. The storage facility is located within the territories of three municipalities belonging to two counties in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (51.515634 N, 16.207030 E).…”

“…The elements of geotechnical monitoring mainly consist of specialized in situ tests, deep drilling, a geodetic network, GPS stations, an inclinometer network, a seismometric network, a piezometer network, and others [13][14][15][16][17]. An extensive monitoring database allows for the assessment of the actual response of the storage facility to the substrate.…”

Base resistance of super-large and long piles in soft soil: performance of artificial neural network model and field implications

“…For example, Fellenius (2015) [22] indicated that the pile toe resistance calculated from CPT results can considerably overestimate the actual value measured in field tests. Besides, CPTs are normally limited up to 50 m depth [21,62], whereas large bored piles can easily exceed this depth, causing a lack of method to estimate the shaft and base resistances for these long piles. These limitations of past ANN models require a more rigorous determination of influencing factors on the bearing capacity of piles that can be used as the key input parameters for establishing the model.…”

Theoretical Studies and Implementation on the Temporary Data Storage Method for Cone Penetration Test

“…The soil property can be inferred by analyzing the stress of the probe at different depths. Because of the low cost and high reliability, CPT has been widely used in the field of geological exploration, such as in underground soil testing [ 1 ], building foundation monitoring, groundwater monitoring [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ], and assessments of effective stress state in soils [ 8 ]. Typically, the sensing device for underground exploration is a probe with a cone-shaped tip, and various sensors can be installed inside the probe [ 9 ].…”