This article investigates the applicability of alkali-activated red mud (RM) as a geo-material for the construction of tailings pond (TP) embankments. A series of unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and direct shear tests (DST) are carried out to examine the mechanical performance of RM activated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH). While doing so, the influence of NaOH concentrations, curing conditions and curing period are also investigated. Furthermore, durability tests are performed to examine the weathering resistance of stabilized RM specimens against extreme environmental conditions. Finally, the effectiveness of alkali activated RM (as an embankment material) is demonstrated with the help of numerical analysis performed on a model TP. Based on the experimental results, the compressive strength of bare RM is improved from 0.34 MPa to 5.6 MPa, 0.57 MPa to 10.55 MPa and 0.97 MPa to 29.34 MPa under controlled ambient curing (CAC, 25±2 °C), open air curing (OAC, 25±7 °C) and dry curing (DC, 60 °C) conditions respectively. On the other hand, effective friction angle and cohesion of bare RM is found to increase from 16.76° to 52.85° and 6.58 kPa to 391.11 kPa respectively, after alkali activation. Furthermore, alkali activated RM specimens exhibit a significantly high weathering resistance than bare RM against 12 cycles of alternate wetting and drying. The numerical analysis reveals a notable increase in the factor of safety values when alkali activated RM is utilized for the construction of TP, indicating its potential as an embankment material.

本文研究了碱活化赤泥（RM）作为土工材料在尾矿库（TP）堤坝建设中的适用性。进行了一系列无侧限抗压强度(UCS) 和直剪试验 (DST)，以检验氢氧化钠活化 RM 的机械性能（氢氧化钠）。在此过程中，还研究了 NaOH 浓度、固化条件和固化时间的影响。此外，还进行了耐久性测试，以检查稳定 RM 样本在极端环境条件下的耐候性。最后，通过对模型 TP 进行数值分析，证明了碱激活 RM（作为路堤材料）的有效性。根据实验结果，在受控环境养护（CAC，25±2℃）、露天养护（CAC，25±2℃）、露天养护（分别为OAC，25±7℃）和干燥固化（DC，60℃）条件。另一方面，有效摩擦角碱活化后，裸露 RM 的内聚力分别从 16.76° 增加到 52.85°，内聚力从 6.58 kPa 增加到 391.11 kPa。此外，碱激活 RM 样本在 12 个交替润湿和干燥循环中表现出比裸 RM 显着高的耐候性。数值分析表明，当使用碱活化 RM 建造 TP 时，安全系数值显着增加，表明其作为路堤材料的潜力。