Tailings Dam:
Structural Integrity Monitoring
Tailings dams are built from the mine’s own sandy waste — not engineered concrete. Sandy foundations, fine silts, and ultra-fine slimes create a structure where water pressure controls everything. See how PWI sensors track the invisible forces inside a tailings dam from foundation to crest.
Dam Material Zones (Base to Top)
Phreatic Level
15m above toe
Pore Pressure (Ru)
0.15
Seepage Rate
5 L/min
Factor of Safety
2.2
How PWI Protects Tailings Facilities
Deploy Sensors
Place passive sensors on crest, upstream face, downstream face, foundation, and toe drain. No drilling required.
Monitor Phreatic Surface
Track the water level inside the dam body — the single most important factor controlling structural stability.
Detect Piping Early
Gravity anomaly changes reveal seepage concentration and internal erosion months before visible symptoms appear.
Trigger Intervention
Automated alerts when pore pressure or phreatic levels exceed thresholds — enabling drawdown before critical failure.
Understanding Tailings Dam Failure
Phreatic Surface Monitoring
The water level INSIDE the dam matters more than the pond level. When the phreatic surface rises toward the downstream face, the dam loses its structural integrity. PWI tracks this invisible surface continuously.
Pore Pressure & Liquefaction
Sandy tailings can liquefy when pore water pressure exceeds the weight of the material above. The fine tailings core and slimes layer are most vulnerable — they can transition from solid to fluid in seconds. Ru > 0.8 = liquefaction risk.
Early Warning System
Piping (internal erosion) is invisible until it’s too late. PWI detects the density changes and seepage concentration that precede piping — providing months of warning. Brumadinho had 12 seconds of warning. PWI provides months.
The PWI Difference
✗ Without Continuous Monitoring
- • Brumadinho (2019): 270 killed, 12 seconds warning
- • Mount Polley (2014): 25M m³ released into waterways
- • Visual inspections miss internal erosion
- • Piezometers give point data, not volumetric
- • $2\u201350B+ in liability per catastrophic failure
✓ With PWI Monitoring
- • Continuous 3D phreatic surface tracking
- • Volumetric pore pressure monitoring (not point samples)
- • Early piping detection via density changes
- • GISTM compliance for international standards
- • Automated threshold alerts with intervention time
Protect Your Tailings Facility
Every tailings dam failure was preceded by invisible changes that sensors could have detected. Deploy PWI before those changes become catastrophic.