Study on safety and stability of high altitude dump under severe drying-wetting alternation

This study aimed to reveal the impact of the severe drying-wetting process on the safety and stability of high-altitude dumps. Numerical calculations were conducted for the open mining dump of limestone mines for cement in high-altitude mining areas. The distribution law equation of the matric suction and the shear strength equation were imported for unsaturated soil based on the unsaturated-saturated seepage theory. Therefore, the evolution characteristics of the unsaturated-saturated seepage field and the stability of the dump were studied under severe drying-wetting. The results indicated the following rules: As the intensity of the wetting-drying alternation increased, the surface soil on the dump changed from an unsaturated to a saturated state, the matric suction continued to decrease until it reached zero, the shear strength decreased, and the unsaturated area shrank. The dump slipped under the influence of the drying-wetting alternation, the sliding area was the dump itself, and developed to the deep layer as the intensity of the drying-wetting alternation strengthened. The cumulative settlement value of the dump increased with time and eventually stabilized, and the maximum accumulative settlement value calculated by simulation was in good agreement with the actual monitoring value. The safety factor decreased as the intensity of the drying-wetting alternation increased.