ABSTRACT
Given the catastrophic accidents seen in the last decade at tailings storage facilities (TSF’s), there is a growing consensus that a better understanding of the behaviour of these structures is needed including different approaches to analyse their stability. In that sense, the use of numerical tools allowing coupled hydromechanical stress-strain analysis has been encouraged. This paper presents the results of PLAXIS 2D® numerical analysis conducted on a simple slope where the water head was increased in the upstream boundary and a seepage flow was established. A parametric study was developed for different slope heights, water heights, and soil permeability, where the minimum time required for a steady-state seepage flow stabilization was identified. A mathematical formulation is proposed that relates the normalized water height, the soil permeability, and the steady-state time.
