Analysis of interface mechanical properties between geotextiles and tailings during pull-out tests

Area of Science:

• Geotechnical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Geotextile-reinforced tailings structures exhibit complex strain-softening behavior at the interface.
• Understanding this interface interaction is crucial for predicting the overall performance and stability of reinforced systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a trilinear shear stress-displacement softening model for geotextile-tailings interfaces.
• To introduce and analyze new dimensionless parameters governing reinforcement-tailings interaction.
• To provide a method for estimating interface behavior and predicting pull-out performance.

Main Methods:

• Development of a trilinear shear stress-displacement softening model.
• Dimensionless nonlinear governing equations solved using the finite difference method with 300 discretization units.
• Introduction of relative stiffness (α), relative displacement (β), and relative interface shear stiffness (η).
• Parameterization of interface shear stress and determination of tensile force-displacement relationships.

Main Results:

• The proposed model achieves accurate numerical solutions within reasonable computation times.
• Three novel dimensionless interaction terms (α, β, η) were defined and utilized.
• An estimation method for relative stiffness (α) in low-tensile-force ranges was developed.
• The model accurately predicts pull-out behavior when compared with experimental data.

Conclusions:

• The trilinear softening model effectively captures the geotextile-tailings interface behavior.
• The introduced dimensionless parameters provide a generalized framework for analyzing reinforcement-tailings interactions.
• The validated model serves as a reliable tool for predicting the pull-out performance of extensible reinforcements in tailings.