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Dump slope stability analysis – A case study

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Journal of the Geological Society of India

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 February 2017

Abstract

In opencast mining operation, the stability of waste materials stands at high priority from the safety and economic perspective. Poor management of overburden (OB) dump results the instability of slope in an opencast mine. The present paper deals with the stability analysis of dump material of an opencast coal mine at Talcher coal field, Angul district, Odisha, by means of different geotechnical parameters and mineralogical composition affecting the dump slope. The prolonged rainfall in the mining area causes dump failure and loss of valuable life and property. A recent dump failure that occurred in 2013 at Basundhara mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), Odisha, took 14 lives, and created problems for the mining industry. Most of the dump failure that occurs in the study area are mainly due to increase in pore water pressure as a result of rainfall infiltration. The stability of the waste dump was investigated using the limit equilibrium analysis to suggest an economical, sustainable and safe disposal of the dump in the study area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Geology, IIT (ISM), Dhanbad, 826 004, India

    Prasanta Kumar Behera, Kripamoy Sarkar & Ashok Kumar Singh

  2. Department of Mining Engineering, IIT (ISM), Dhanbad, 826 004, India

    A. K. Verma

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, 400076, India

    T. N. Singh

Authors
  1. Prasanta Kumar Behera
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  2. Kripamoy Sarkar
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  3. Ashok Kumar Singh
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  4. A. K. Verma
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  5. T. N. Singh
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Correspondence to Kripamoy Sarkar.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12594-017-0593-z.

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Behera, P.K., Sarkar, K., Singh, A.K. et al. Dump slope stability analysis – A case study. J Geol Soc India 88, 725–735 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-016-0540-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-016-0540-4

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