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designs was to provide a compacted earth structure that was stronger than the pre-slide tailings <br /> fill. The tailings fill had been placed on the slope via dozer push instead of placing organized <br /> lifts. This led to it having high variability in conditions and strength in addition to variable water <br /> transmission. The approved TR 02 design eliminated both flaws of the tailings fill by building <br /> buttresses of consistent material and construction and by installing a drainage system below the <br /> buttresses. <br /> The data gathered on the pre-slide earth materials onsite is shown in Section 4. In summary, the <br /> tailings fill and colluvium have similar density but different friction angles and cohesion. Ground <br /> Engineering identified in their report in TR 02 and in Amendment 03 (AM 03)to the Division <br /> that the principal time of slope failure to be anticipated on this slope would rotational movements <br /> (i.e. circular failures)through both tailings and colluvium. The main control of these failures <br /> appears to be the presence of perched groundwater. Therefore,the subgrade drainage system was <br /> developed to ensure that the slope would not have perched groundwater presence. <br /> 2.3.1 Construction Challen-aes <br /> The construction of the lower portion of the drainage pipe(Z3B Low Pipe)that runs transverse <br /> across the slope (Figure 2)brought to light challenges that would continually confront the work <br /> in Zone 3B. First,the depth of tailings and colluvium in this area was significantly greater than <br /> preconstruction test holes had anticipated. Also, the material being excavated was not able to <br /> hold up very long and frequently construction crews worried about recently excavated near <br /> vertical highwalls sloughing off into the work areas. Slope laybacks took place as much as <br /> possible. Unloading the upland slope was attempted, but the nature of such unloading limited it: <br /> it was not practical to remove all material from Zone 3B down to the shale to comprehensively <br /> unload the slope.Nonetheless,APC and its earthwork contractor worked diligently and installed <br /> the Z313 Low Pipe to the design. APC adjusted the longitudinal collector pipe location slightly <br /> south to ensure that it was at the lowest grade point of all the installed pipes to ensure successful <br /> flow. <br /> Once the Z313 Low Pipe was installed,the first stage of the buttress could be built. APC and its <br /> contractor laid material in compacted lifts according to the TR 02 approved specifications on the <br /> Z313 Low Pipe. APC worked to install the upper portion of drainage pipe (Z3B High Pipe). <br /> However,the depth issue identified during construction of the Z313 Low Pipe proved to be an <br /> even greater issue in the construction of the Z313 High Pipe. Excavation failed to reach the shale <br /> layer at>40' of depth in the Z3B High Pipe area. At such an excavation depth,APC and its <br /> contractor had serious concerns regarding the safety and practicability of placing the sub-grade <br /> drainage pipe at the required depth. It was not safe to excavate much deeper at the toe of <br /> highwall that had demonstrated sloughing. Furthermore, similar to the installation of the Z313 <br /> Low Pipe, unloading the upland slope was not practical. The scale and scope of material above <br /> the Z3B High Pipe location was such that removing it would have involve disturbing a large area <br /> of materials that had not been disturbed or affected by any of the earthwork or previous slide. <br /> APC thus decided to install the Z313 High Pipe at the depth that had been reached; based on the <br /> reports of the technical support from Ground Engineering that was present, this is 5' deep into <br /> the colluvium and further to the west. <br /> Ralston TR 03 5 Gnu 1,"icki and Asw ialcs,PLIA <br />