Rock slope stability and snow disposal capacity optimization, St-Michel Quarry, City of Montréal

André J. Rancourt, Ghislain Dionne, Pierre Marcoux, Benjamin Pugi, Alberto Cardenas

In the proceedings of: GeoSt. John's 2019: 72nd Canadian Geotechnical Conference

Session: Rock Mechanics

ABSTRACT: The City of Montreal manages large volumes of snow every winter and presently uses a former limestone quarry as snow disposal site. The quarry is more than 60 m deep and have dimensions of around 1500 m long by 300 m large. The disposal method uses docks located on the quarry edges to allow trucks to back-up and dump the snow. An Alternative method is to use larges snow blowing machines that enable to increase potential snow volume but at higher costs. [A1] The present paper is divided in two sections, the first part addresses the rock slopes stability underneath the docks, while the second part covers snow disposal methods in relation with optimal volume and costs. The slope stability was address using a survey carried out by a drone, and the data interpreted by software in order to identify the structural discontinuities in the rock mass and to identify among other things, potential sliding blocks and long-term stability of the rock wall. Stability results were used to assess existing docks stability and to propose new docks design. The second part of the study address the snow disposal capacity optimization. The study looks at several punctual docks versus one continuous dock and compare construction costs along with volume capacity available by snow dumping versus snow blowing considering the specific angle of friction of snow.

RÉSUMÉ: La Ville de Montréal utilise une ancienne carrière de calcaire pour la disposition des importants volumes de neige récupéré 500 m de long par 300 m de large. La Ville utilise présentement des quais qui sont localisé le long de la paroi rocheuse qui à haute puissance qui pesupérieurs à la méthode par gravité. Cet article est la sea été réalisé en utilisant un relevé par drone et les données ont été identifier des potentiels plans de glissement et à adresser la stabilité à long terme de la paroi. quais ponctuels à un grand quai continu

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Cite this article:
André J. Rancourt; Ghislain Dionne; Pierre Marcoux; Benjamin Pugi; Alberto Cardenas (2019) Rock slope stability and snow disposal capacity optimization, St-Michel Quarry, City of Montréal in GEO2019. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Geotechnical Society.

@article{Geo2019Paper196,author = André J. Rancourt; Ghislain Dionne; Pierre Marcoux; Benjamin Pugi; Alberto Cardenas,title = Rock slope stability and snow disposal capacity optimization, St-Michel Quarry, City of Montréal,year = 2019}