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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Centrifuge modeling of coal tailing embankments

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6084757

Centrifuge model studies were conducted on eight homogeneous dams with 1.75:1 slopes using coal tailings (waste coal, shale, fine sand, silt, and clay) to obtain experience on the behavior of this low-strength material in a laboratory setting and, further, to examine the accuracy of predictions of embankment failure by the simplified Bishop limit equilibrium method. The failure of four of the model embankments simulated typical features of slope failures observed in the field. Centrifuge modeling verified that the simplified Bishop method using standard measurements of soil strength properly indexed the dam safety but did not accurately locate the embankment failure surface. 20 refs.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
6084757
Report Number(s):
SAND-84-1719; ON: DE86008877
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English