Interdependency of Safety Factors and Geometric Elements of the Waste Dumps in the Berbeşti Mining Basin

As a result of mining operations, large amounts of sterile rocks result, which involve the occupation of some land surfaces and which can generate risk situations such as geotechnical phenomena (especially landslides). The risks the population is exposed to in the event of landslides and their increasing incidence in mining areas, make more and more researchers interested in investigating, inventorying and characterizing the conditions and landslides risk areas. The stability conditions for any engineering construction are evaluated right from the design phase. Since the physical and mechanical characteristics of the rocks that define the working slopes and the dumps in the mining perimeters cannot be significantly improved in order to increase stability reserves, the emphasis remains on their appropriate design. The paper aims to develop a fast method to provide indications of the safety factor for different geometric configurations of slopes. Based on the stability analyses, two nomograms were built that graphically represent the dependence between the geometric elements of the slopes and the values of the safety factors, the case study being carried out for the waste dumps in the Berbești Mining Basin, known for its lignite mining activity.