Evaluation of Dump Slope Stability Using Slide, Geoslope and Phase 2 software

Abstract

Global energy demand continues to grow rapidly. The increasing energy demand needs to be met by fossil fuels, especially in countries like India. In these countries, coal is the major energy producer and mechanized surface mining is the only way to support coal production. In the near future, shallow depth coal reserves will be depleted, and deeper coal deposits will be exploited by surface mining, resulting in handling an immense amount of overburden. In open cast mines, dumping overburden as internal dumps involves many risks and hazards such as slope failure, handling dust sediments in surroundings, and soil erosion in wet weather. As a result of the lack of a dump area, mining companies tend to elevate dump heights, thereby increasing the likelihood of sliding. The stability of these dumps slopes has been a significant concern over the years. The slope stability analysis of a mine dump is presented in this paper by calculating the factor of safety using three different software programs: Slide, Geo-slope, and Phase2 software, and the results obtained are compared.