Experimental study on the affecting factors of the shear strength of unsaturated tailings

The tailings used for building dam generally are unsaturated soil after drainage processing, and their shear strength are the key point of guarantee tailings dam stability. This paper studied the major factors affected to the shear strength of tailings (including medium diameter, moisture content and density of tailings) by soil laboratory Experimental. The results showed that: the tailings´ cohesion reduces and internal friction angle increases with the medium diameter increases; between the water content of 12% to 18%, the tailings´ cohesion increases with the moisture content increases, but between the water content of 18% to 21%, this trend is reverses, and the tailings´ internal friction angle slightly reduces with the moisture content; the tailings´ cohesion and internal friction angle increases linearly with the density. The results of this research have very important practical significance for secuity management and stability evaluation of tailings reservoir.