TIME DOMAIN REFLECTOMETRY TO MONITOR TAILINGS DAM STABILITY

The Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET) is currently monitoring the stability of three tailings dams using Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) technology. TDR cables 100 metres in length were installed horizontally in all three dams. Cabling was placed directly into a trench parallel to the toe of slope and above the toe drain. Shear inducers were installed at 15 metre intervals along the length of the cable. The inducers were wrapped in fine geo-fabric to prevent fill intrusion during backfilling. The first dam was instrumented in October of 1998. Labview software was written to collect data from the 1502C in Windows 95 environment. Field installation, data acquisition and software modifications will be presented.

B.P. Gorski, B. Tisch, T. Anderson, K. Judge and K.Tarr
Mining and Mineral Sciences Laboratories, Natural Resources Canada
Ottawa, Canada