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Bayesian Belief network approach to slope management in British Columbia open pits

University of British Columbia

The stability of rock slopes is a major safety issue in open pit mining. It is important for rock engineers and mine operators to be knowledgeable about their pit wall behaviour, and, more specifically, to recognize appropriate conditions that trigger the need to issue warnings or stop work orders. With the current increase in the number of open pit mines in British Columbia and the deepening of existing pits, there is a need for rational, scientifically based decisions in response to measured pit wall performance. The main objective of this research was to develop and establish a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) model and outline appropriate operational responses to manage slopes in large open pit porphyry mines. The BBN model can be tailored to specific geotechnical conditions and pit wall configurations. The research integrated available geotechnical engineering data and knowledge, including expert knowledge, ground water conditions, slope geometry, mining activity (blast damage), and consequences of failure, into one platform that can establish appropriate operational responses. A range of pre-defined actions ranging from normal pit operations to orders to stop work and evacuate the pit were defined in this research as operational responses or pit management decisions. These operational responses were linked in the BBN model to predicted states of pit wall movement and estimates of the consequences of these movements. A new relationship was proposed to estimate the travel distance from a wide range of pit slope failure debris volumes. The relationship accounts for a potential rockslide transforming into a rock avalanche. The BBN model was used to retroactively predict the appropriate operational response at four mines to using data from past slope instabilities. The results indicate that equipment damage as well as production losses could have been minimized or prevented had the BBN model been used by the mine operators at the time of each slope instability. The methodology described in the thesis provides the foundation for an innovative tool for the selection of appropriate operational responses linked to measured slope velocity, potential rockslide debris volume, and potential travel distance of the debris.

Text

2016-04-29

Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/57946

Civil Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/