Early Bird August 18 - $310
Regular - $340
Price includes
breakfast (7:30 – 8:30)
coffee break
Instructional, Working Examples
In-person, English language only
The tailings dam breaching process is generally categorized as erosional and non-erosional in the CDA Technical Bulletin for Tailings Dam Breach Analysis (TDBA). Breaching of a particular tailings dam may include one or combination of both processes. Water dam based breaching models generally covers erosional type (water or fluid erodes dam and tailings retained by the dam) breaching process which can be applied to TDBA. While recent advancements in breach simulation tools and sediment transport formulations have improved industry's ability to simulate erosional failures and subsequent runout processes, the modelling of non-erosional type breach (triggered by instability of dam or retained tailings including liquefaction) involving geotechnically complex materials and mechanisms remains an evolving topic, which leads to uncertainty in TDBA including modelling of runout analysis and/or deposition mapping.
This half-day workshop will provide an overview of the ongoing developments in the geomechanical modelling of non-erosional type failures of tailings dams. The workshop will invite presentations and discussions on the current capabilities and limitations to simulate mechanisms such as static / flow liquefaction, brittle collapse (strain-softening), and progressive failure in tailings facilities. Topics will include the importance and sensitivity of constitutive model selection, material variability, and parameter uncertainty, and the implications for informing / supporting the numerical modelling of tailings dam failures including emerging methods like Material Point Method (MPM) to simulate large deformations and post-failure behaviour.
The workshop will aim to equip practitioners, researchers, and regulators to apply and interpret numerical modelling techniques and results for application in industry practice.
Further details including an agenda for the workshop will be provided.
TDBA Steering Committee Lead – Mohammad Al-Mamun (Tetra Tech)
Workshop Presenters TBA
Geotechnical, hydrotechnical, mining, tailings engineers as well as numerical modellers, dam safety and emergency management professionals from consulting, owner and academia
Workshops provided in conjunction with the 2025 CDA Conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Sept 28-Oct 1, 2025)
