Piping-Seepage Mechanism of Tailings with Different Fine Particle Contents

Piping-seepage damage is one of the major factors leading to tailings dam failure. To explore the microscopic influence mechanism of tailings with different fine content on piping development, on the basis of the indoor permeability test, combined with the coupling method of discrete particle flow at the microlevel, through the small seepage model test, the discrete element model of the model test was further constructed. The effects of different fine particle contents on particle size composition, permeability, critical water head, fine particle migration, and porosity of samples were analyzed by an indoor small-scale seepage model and the corresponding numerical simulation study. The results showed that before the occurrence of piping, with the increase of fine particle content, the gradation constant is less than 0.074 mm, and the downward trend changes abruptly, showing a concave curve change. The permeability coefficient showed a decreasing trend, and the critical water head increased. The maximum void ratio and the minimum void ratio generally decreased first and then increased. The strong force chain decreased, and the total force chain increased; there were obvious differences in the change of porosity of different fine particle contents before, during, and after destruction. This was verified by the indoor physical model test that different fine particle contents will lead to different sand inflows in seepage dam break. In practical engineering, it is more helpful to provide a new way for the comprehensive prevention of seepage failure of tailings dam by clarifying the disaster-causing mechanism of piping and seepage failure of tailings dam from the mesostructure.