Study sheds light on Feijão dam failure

Numerical models of the evolution of the Feijão dam are being used to assess the slip surface growth in a Swiss study.

The Feijão dam failure claimed the lives of 270 people in Brumadinho, Brazil, and caused major destruction in the region.

Researchers at the Institute for Geotechnical Engineering, ETH Zürich, propose there was a ‘basic physical mechanism of a delayed slip surface growth along weak layers of fine tailings within the dam body’.

The conclusions suggests the growth was increased by creed deformation after the closing stage, until the slip surfaces reached their critical length and eventual collapse.

The failure took place three years after the tailings disposal was terminated, which should have allowed sufficient time for the material to consolidate and increase its strength.

Published in Communications Earth & Environment, the paper discusses how the slip surface growth was preconditioned by dam construction and tailings discharge history.