The impact of lenses on the seepage failure of tailings dam

Abstract

The presence of lenses such as tailings slurry, frozen soil, and saturated zones disrupts the continuity of tailings dams and their normal seepage patterns, elevating the seepage line of the dam body and significantly impacting local stability. This study, to investigate how lenses affect the stability and failure mechanisms of tailings dams, employs numerical simulation and physical models and constructs a model of the tailings dam, incorporating tailings clay lens and void lens, to investigate variations in hydraulic gradients, seepage velocities, seepage flow, pore water pressure, and the patterns of seepage failure. This research reveals that the tailings clay lens within the dam body increases the hydraulic gradient in its vicinity due to its low permeability and raises the phreatic line. As the tailings clay lens approaches the dam body, the phreatic line tends to escape along the upper part of the lens towards the dam surface. In addition, the void lens could lead to a more pronounced seepage gradient along its path on the dam surface, with a liquefaction beneath it. As the void lens nears the toe of the slope, the dam failure mode transitions from a step-like progressive failure to an arch-shaped settlement failure along the void lens.