A solution to estimate the total and effective stresses in backfilled stopes with an impervious base during the filling operation of cohesionless backfill

Summary Mining backfill is commonly used in underground mines. A critical concern of this practice is to evaluate the pressures and total stresses in backfilled stopes to ensure a safe and economic design of barricades, constructed to retain the backfill. When a slurried backfill is placed in a mine stope, excess pore water pressure (PWP) can instantaneously generate and progressively dissipate. The dissipation of the excess PWP and consolidation lead to the development of effective stresses, which in turn lead to an arching effect in the backfilled stope. Until now, arching effect has been largely considered for stress estimation in dry or submerged backfill. The former corresponds to the final state at the end process of the drainage and consolidation of the backfill with a pervious while the latter with an impervious barricade. However, previous studies have shown that the most critical moment for the stability of barricades is during the stope filling. Therefore, the design of barricades requires a proper estimation of the pressure and total stresses during the filling operation. This in turn needs joint consideration of the arching effect and consolidation of the backfill. In this paper, a new solution is developed to evaluate the pressures and stresses in backfilled stopes during the filling operation of cohesionless backfill by considering the self‐weight consolidation and arching effect. The proposed solution is validated by numerical modeling with Plaxis2D. It can thus be used to evaluate the pressures and stresses in backfilled stopes during the stope filling with an impervious barricade.