Heterogeneity of field cemented rockfill at a Canadian hard-rock mine

Abstract

This study presents uniaxial and triaxial compression tests on large-scale cemented rockfill (CRF) core samples from a Canadian hard-rock mine. Stress-strain curves indicate heterogeneity in strength and deformation properties at various depths. Segregation causes uneven cement and aggregate distribution, affecting uniaxial compressive strength, which decreases with proximity to the discharge point. Findings confirm CRF column strength variability, aiding stability assessment and optimization.

Keywords

Cemented rockfill / Compression test / Stress-strain behaviour / Field core samples

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Chong Wei: Writing - original draft, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation. Derek B. Apel: Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Data curation, Conceptualization. Huawei Xu: Writing - review & editing, Software, Investigation. Jun Wang: Writing - review & editing, Validation. Krzysztof Skrzypkowski: Writing - review & editing, Conceptualization.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada (Grant No. NSERC RGPIN-2019-04572).

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