Simulation of Blast Induced Liquefaction Susceptibility of Subsurface Fill Mass

Tailings backfill, which is a subsurface fill mass, has been extensively utilized worldwide in underground mines to fill mined-out cavities for the purposes of ground control and tailings disposal. Just after placement, very early-age backfill which commonly contains a large volume of water exhibits little or no interparticle bonding, and is subjected to the risk of liquefaction induced by routine mine blasting. In this study, a modified total-stress viscoplastic cap model is developed to investigate the blast-induced liquefaction susceptibility of very early-age fill mass under various practical backfilling and field conditions. The developed model well represents the strain-rate and fluid-compressibility dependence of nonlinear material behavior under such dynamic conditions, and also captures the development of excess pore pressure due to irrecoverable volume changes. The model is validated against a series of blast and impact tests on saturated natural soils (sand and silt) and tailings fill masses, and a good agreement is found between the experimental and simulated results. Subsequently, the model is applied to investigate the effects of drainage conditions, distance from detonation, stope size, location of retaining structure, and blast sequence on the liquefaction susceptibility of early-age fill mass after mine blasting. The results obtained from the study will provide practical insight into the blast liquefaction potential of backfill mass in field conditions.