Iron Ore Mine Slope Stability Using Finite Element Analysis
摘要
Open pit mining is a surface mining method for extracting minerals or other geological elements from the earth's surface. Over the last few decades, mining depth has steadily increased. In such cases, slope stability analysis is essential in any opencast mining. A failure of the slope in a working area of a mine can result in significant economic losses and safety impacts in case of increasing mining depths. The present paper discusses the slope stability analysis of pits and dumps for Gandhalpada Iron Ore Mine, Orissa. The finite element software is used for the stability analysis of the present case study and the Mohr–coulomb model was considered to simulate the soil and rock behavior. The design parameters considered in the analysis were based on 47 boreholes. The slope stability checks have been carried out for pits of an excavation depth of 25 m, 60 m, and 150 m for different bench widths, heights, and slope angles respectively. The slope stability analysis was also carried out for bench slopes of 1 V:1.5H and 1 V:2H with different bench heights and bench widths. The dump heights of 7 m, 8 m, 9 m,10 m, 20 m, 30 m, and 50 m were analyzed with a live load of 100 t in dry and saturation conditions and compared the factor of safety. The safety factors for pits were calculated, and they varied from 1.3 to 1.6 for wet and dry conditions respectively.