Reliability analysis of tailings dam stability

Based on the limit equilibrium theory and traditional safety factor method, the reliability theory is introduced to analyze the stability of tailings dam. By the analysis of sensitivity and reliability of a typical tailings dam, it is found that the variation of friction angle obviously affects the reliability index and the variation of bulk density has a more obvious effect than the variation of cohesion. It is very important to use the reliability theory in the stability analysis of tailings dam. The shearing strength indexes c, φ and bulk density γ taken as essential random variables in the reliability analysis of tailings dam is suggested.