Abstract
The aim of the study was to determine the geotechnical characteristics of the unburnt colliery spoils after coal-recovery from the dumping site of one of the mines of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin in Poland. Due to grain-size distribution of tested spoils their geotechnical properties were determined using medium-sized apparatuses. In order to verify the suitability of the studied spoils for the construction of hydraulic embankments, the seepage and stability calculations were conducted for models of hydraulic embankments including the effect of flood wave passage on stress conditions within the construction and their slope stability. The test results revealed, that the studied colliery spoils are characterized by favourable values of geotechnical parameters and they fulfil the requirements for soil materials used in the analysed type of constructions. The spoils are characterized by good compactibility, relatively low water permeability and average susceptibility to mechanical disintegration, which in the case of using this material for the construction of hydraulic embankments and using proper compaction technology, should reduce their susceptibility to weathering. The results of seepage and slope stability calculations for hydraulic embankments built of the studied spoils confirmed their suitability for that type of constructions, retaining the proper inclination of slopes, whereas the variant of embankment without sealing is safer from the stability viewpoint.
Highlights
Climatic changes observed in recent years cause that proper water management has become increasingly important
A positive effect of spoils fragmentation is the increase in their uniformity coefficient, whose high values are characteristic for soils of good compactibility
The size of coarse fraction loss in favour of fine fractions is not large in relation to the changes in grain size for the unburnt colliery spoils from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin [4], or from other regions [9]
Summary
Climatic changes observed in recent years cause that proper water management has become increasingly important. One of the methods to reduce the negative effects of floods is the construction of hydrotechnical objects of small and large retention (dikes, reservoirs, flood polders) Construction of such objects requires huge amount of earth material, the resources of which are limited. For many years anthropogenic soils, including colliery spoils of hard coal mining, have been an alternative for mineral soils. These materials are characterized by a relatively high variability of geotechnical characteristics, which causes that each time they require determination of parameters characterizing their physical and mechanical properties in terms of their use for earth constructions [15]. The elimination of dumping grounds through the use of waste for the engineering purposes has a significant influence on shaping and protection of the environment [6, 7]
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