Susceptibility to Liquefaction of Iron Ore Tailings in Upstream Dams Considering Drainage Conditions Based on Seismic Piezocone Tests

One of the critical challenges facing the mining sector is related to the prevention and mitigation of catastrophic incidents associated with its tailing dams. As mining tailings are very heterogeneous and field characterization is expensive and complex, geotechnical properties of these materials are largely unknown. The seismic cone penetration test (SCPTu) provides a field approach to estimate a large array of geotechnical information, including the liquefaction potential of tailing dams. Yet, the exploration of strain softening behaviors in geomaterials under undrained loading, utilizing the state parameter (ψ) inferred from SCPTu tests initially applied to soft soils, has been often used for mining tailings. This study is concerned with the implementation of a tailing classification system which uses the ratio between the small strain shear modulus and the cone tip resistance (G0/qt). A series of laboratory tests was executed, and three different methodologies were adopted to assess the effects of (partial) drainage conditions based on 531.26 m of SCPTu measurements conducted at three different upstream iron ore tailing dams in Brazil. Furthermore, the G0/qt ratio is integrated with ψ to assess the liquefaction tendencies of the investigated materials. The findings reveal the heterogeneous nature of the tailings, wherein indications of partial drainage are discernible across numerous records. Liquefaction analyses demonstrate that the tailings exhibit a contractive behavior in over 94% of the SCPTu data, confirming their susceptibility to flow liquefaction. Our findings are relevant for site characterization within iron ore tailing dams and other mining sites with similar geotechnical attributes.