ABSTRACT
The recent accidents involving tailings dams in Brazil have promoted significant changes in the current legislation and, consequently, have made the criteria and assumptions in projects related to mining tailings dams more restrictive. The short deadlines set by the inspection agents, the unavailability of areas, constructive restrictions and, mainly, the need for systematic operational controls during construction to eliminate possible triggers for the liquefaction process to which such structures are susceptible, made the application of steel pile walls as a reinforcement/containment element in dams to become technically feasible in comparison with conventional alternatives. The pile driving method associates the pressing method (Press in) to the rotation technique (Gyropress) and presents, among other advantages, low vibration levels, low noise levels, easy driving in different types of foundations and minimization of downstream damage. This paper presents the results of the application of the pile driving using the press in method to reinforcement as part of the process that dam decharacterization projects developed in Brazil by the applications of criteria and premises established by the International Press-in Association (IPA, 2019).
