ISC7

Prediction of Future Settlement of Backfill at an Aggregate Mining Quarry Site in Irwindale, CA Using Numerical Method and Settlement Monitoring Data

  • Pappo, Clarissa (Cal Poly Pomona)
  • Shafiee, Ali (Cal Poly Pomona)
  • Kamalzare, Mehrad (Cal Poly Pomona)

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Future static and seismic settlement of a former aggregate mining quarry site in Irwindale, California is predicted based on the monitoring data and using numerical analyses that consider the reset of the secondary compression clock. Irwindale has been a hub for aggregate mining operations in Southern California due to its geology and proximity to construction markets. The quarry was backfilled with approximately 200 to 220 feet of compacted engineered fill back in 2005. The compacted fill has a volume of 2.9 m3 and covers an area of 43,700 m2. The backfill material ranges from silty sand (SM) to silty gravel (GM) and was compacted to ahceive a relative compaction (RC) of 96%. The fill is currently being monitored with survey data to predict future 50-year settlement due to secondary compression. We have access to settlement monument data starting from May 2009 up to now. The data are measured in 18 different locations. Topographic survey, aerial photographs, and background reports regarding fill placement were used to develop a 3-dimensional model of the backfill model in the computer program Settle 3 from Rocscience package. Field investigations, lab results, and survey to date, were also used to evaluate engineering properties of the soil including elastic modulus, compression index, and coefficient of secondary compression. We modeled the fill in 8 stages and scenarios to determine an appropriate upper and lower boundary of predicted future 50-year settlement from today. We reset the secondary compression clock following placement of each new fill layer. We could find fairly good agreement between the field monitoring data and our numerical model when considering the secondary compression clock resetting.