Liquefaction & Cemented Paste Backfill

Mining + Geomechanics

Liquefaction + Cemented Paste Backfill

Mines produce a significant amount of waste material in the form of finely crushed rock and process water, called mill sands or mine tailings, and the management of these tailings poses a signficant engineering challenge. Too often the conventional forms of tailings disposal and management, in particular slurry deposition into tailings ponds, have not performed well resulting in significant adverse impacts on the environment, surrounding communities, and the operation of the mine itself.

Our research group's focus is liquefaction of strong ground, and in particular the liquefaction of mine tailings mixed with binder and called Cemented Paste Backfill (CPB). The very nature of the underground mining environment and the methods used to extract ore result in boundary conditions and imposed static and dynamic loads that are fundamentally different from the near-surface natural soil deposits which have been the focus of traditional liquefaction studies. This provides the impetus to go beyond the traditional areas of liquefaction research and explore exciting new areas including the effects of binder hydration, unsaturated water phases, frequency dependance under sustained high frequency loading, heterogeneous in situ conditions, and also how rheology modifiers influence post-liquefaction behaviour.

NameJob Title & DutiesContact Details
Murray GrabinskyGrabinsky, MurrayAssociate Professor
  • Mining & Geomechanics
  • Mining Engineering
  • Liquefaction + CPB
  • Sustainable Infrastructure
Office: MB 130C
(416) 978-7130
murray.grabinsky@utoronto.ca