Assessment of S-wave velocity and damping ratio in the laboratory of unsaturated tailings from mining operations in the Topia District, Mexico

Abstract

Tailing disposal structures contain finely ground solids, which are discarded from the ore profit process of the mining industry. Its design under shaking can be carried out using several computational methods that are available even though it is important to understand the mine tailing behavior under cyclic loads especially when they are unsaturated. This paper aims to present the influence of the capillary forces, the relative density, and the initial confining stress on the dynamic comportment of unsaturated products of the crushing and processing of silver, lead, and zinc operations. It was used the moist tamping method to prepare the specimens that were tested on a resonant column and cyclic triaxial devices. It was observed that in a dry condition, the highest shear wave velocity (Vs) was achieved which strongly decreased as the degree of saturation increased around 16.6 %, then the Vs slightly varied. Moreover, an equation is also proposed for relating the Vs concerning the degree of saturation, the void ratio, and the confining pressure for the studied mine tailings, observing that experimental and calculated values fit well.