Dynamic Analysis of the Almagrera Tailings Dam with Dry Closure Condition

Antonio Morales-Esteban (), José Luis de Justo Alpañés, Pablo Castillo and Muhammet Karabulut
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Antonio Morales-Esteban: Department of Building Structures and Geotechnical Engineering, Technical University School of Architecture, University of Seville. Av. Reina Mercedes 2, 41012 Seville, Spain
José Luis de Justo Alpañés: Department of Building Structures and Geotechnical Engineering, Technical University School of Architecture, University of Seville. Av. Reina Mercedes 2, 41012 Seville, Spain
Pablo Castillo: Department of Building Structures and Geotechnical Engineering, Technical University School of Architecture, University of Seville. Av. Reina Mercedes 2, 41012 Seville, Spain
Muhammet Karabulut: Department of Civil Engineering, Zonguldak Bulent Ecevit University, Incivez, Zonguldak 67100, Turkey

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 4, 1-27

Abstract: In light of growing concerns over sustainability, particularly in the wake of environmental disasters like the Aznalcollar dam break, the Spanish authorities have heightened their awareness of issues surrounding ore tailings management. The main aim of this paper is to study the dynamic behavior for the dry closure of the Almagrera dam under the action of an earthquake. This study was carried out with the Plaxis 2D v9.02 program, which uses the finite element (FE) method. The dynamic analysis of the dam was interpreted in terms of deformations, displacements and principal stresses. The construction of the Uniform Seismic Hazard Acceleration Response Spectrum (USHARS) and the selection of real accelerograms for the time-history dynamic calculations is a noted feature of this research. Numerical analyses show that the dam is safe enough because a failure surface has not been formed, although several plastic zones may appear in the dam. The FE study of deformations display that the tailings may attain large deformations, displacements and failure, although this does not jeopardize the safety of the dam where the displacements are smaller than 3 mm. Neither the tailings nor the dam are expected to suffer liquefaction. It was determined that the 0.09 g threshold value is not exceeded in the acceleration-time graphs on the old reservoir field surface, which is the most critical situation.

Keywords: accelerograms; dam safety; dynamic calculation; earthquake analysis of dam; tailings dam; finite element; mining; Plaxis; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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