Application of Geogrids to Enhance Waste Dump Stability

Project Title:

Application of Geogrids to Enhance Waste Dump Stability

Supervisory Team:

Dr. Manoj Khandelwal and Ms. Larissa Koroznikova

Project Description:

The stability of a waste dump is a very important aspect in large surface mines. The overburden has to be removed and dumped in an effective manner for the sustainable development. The failure of dump could hamper the production and productivity of a mine and result in loss of man, material, machinery, etc. Of course, flat or gentle slope dump with less height is ideal for the stability point of view. However, it would not only occupy lot of ground space but also prove to be very expensive. Hence, it is necessary to design the optimum dump height and slope angle of the overburden dump. Nowadays, Geogrids has been widely used to reinforce the weak rock mass, mine waste dump, soil slopes road cut slopes, etc. Geogrids are formed by a regular network of tensile elements with apertures of sufficient size to interlock with surrounding fill material and are highly resistant to biological and chemical degradation. So, in the proposed study, various combinations of Geogrid-reinforced dump slope be studied to make steeper dump without compromising the factor of safety using combination of mathematical and numerical models.