CHINA MINE ENGINEERING

Tailings dam built on deep overburden with great compressibility will result in great settlement, especially by adopting the form of damming at one go. By taking a tailings pond in Qinghai as an example, SIGMA/W module of Geostudio software performs a simulation calculation on the settlement of tailings dam. The result shows that increasing excavation depth of foundation clearing can reduce the settlement of the dam body and dam foundation, but the effect isnt obvious; superelevation should be fully considered in design of tailings dam built on deep overburden. After completion of dam body construction and basic completion of dam body settlement, it is guaranteed that the dam crest elevation meets the design requirement.