Student): MATHEUS NAZARETH MARTINS
Candidate for the Degree: Master in Civil Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
Title: Determination of the Safety Factor of a Slope Through Stress-Strain Analysis with the Implementation of the CASM Constitutive Model
Data: 13 September 2024
Working Hours: 15:00
Location: Room 308L of PUC-Rio
Summary: The disasters of Mariana, in 2015, and Brumadinho, in 2019, highlighted that mining tailings dams are complex geotechnical structures. Composed of sandy and clayey lenses inside, due to the disposal process, these structures present challenges in modeling their behavior. In this context, this study aims to present the formulation and implement the CASM (Clay and Sand Model) constitutive model in the PLAXIS finite element software. The CASM constitutive model, a unified model for clay and sand, allows the modeling of materials under drained and undrained conditions, which helps in the identification of possible failure modes in geotechnical structures and contributes to the improvement of future projects. The implementation of the model is validated by comparing triaxial test trajectories with the results available in the literature. As an additional objective, the study aims to determine the safety factor through stress-strain analysis. Using the Sarma method as a source of inspiration, a methodology for evaluating the safety factor is proposed, adopting pseudostatic horizontal acceleration and modified CASM parameters. The results obtained show a satisfactory polynomial approximation, indicating that the proposed method can be used to quantitatively evaluate the safety level of mining structures that store tailings susceptible to static liquefaction.