Design evaluations for spoil piles at a strip coal mine considering safety ofthehaulraod

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Abstract
Spoil piles in the Eskihisar coal mine area, SW Turkey, suffer from numerous problems. In addition, the fact chat height of truck - placed spoil piles on both sides of the haul road will be increased much more in the near future focused the attentions on re-design of spoil piles. This study briefly describes geotechnical characteristics of spoil material and mechanism of instabilities, compares shear strength parameters derived from back-analyses and the laboratory test data, and discusses the influence of design parameters on the factor of safety by using sensitivity analysts There is evidence from the analyses and laboratory shear strength lest data that the use of shear strength parameters defined by linear failure envelope yields results that are comparable with those obtained when non-linear failure envelope is used. Deterministic stability analyses indicated that any build-up of water pressure within the spoil along the haul road will cause a serious reduction in the stability, and the use of a cohesion equal to zero for design purpose may be correct only for a dry slope of limited height Results of the analyses also suggest thai the modification of the preliminary design will be required to control slope stability future. The ongoing problems with spoil piles ana me long-term safety of the haul road have focused attention on sooil pile stability To study the problem a geotechnical investigation has been carried out by the Geotechnical Division of Mineral Research and Exploration Institute (MTA). A part of this investigation which involves studies on rotational spoil failures and re-design of the piles surrounding the haul road is summarized in this paper This paper briefly explains the nature of movements and the mechanism operative during failures of spoil piles, compares the results of laboratory shear tests and back analyses to select appropriate shear strength parameters for design, and evaluates the present project proposed by TKIfor truck-placed spoil piles along the haul road. To accomplish this task, measurements on spoil piles, core drilling and laboratory testing were used in conjunction with back analysis of existing spoil instabilities. Deterministic stability analyses using both linear and non-linear failure criteria for spoil piles along the haul road were carried out with the emphasis placed on the sensitivity study of each contributing factor responsible for the spoil failure.