The choice of the structure to construct according to the type of soil (lift) requires specific analyzes related to soil geotechnical behavior. The study is carried out on the basis of tests carried out in situ by the geotechnical laboratory of the OFFICE DES ROUTES along the Lubumbashi River. This allowed us to classify the soil and to reveal the different layers that constitute it, to reveal certain physical parameters on the one hand, and to know the permissible constraint on the other hand in order to size our structures. At the end of these studies it was retained that the soil surrounding the sheet pile curtain includes three layers at different depths, namely the laterite (a filler material), silt and dense sand. Our study is carried out in two phases, the first phase concerns the study of the soil while the second and final is concerns the choice of the structure to construct according to the type of soil (lift), since the structure did not exist yet.

In most cases of failure of dikes, hydraulic fracturing is the evoked main cause. Severalauthors analyzed the properties of soils under mechanic and hydric solicitation. However, these analyses do nottake into account the chemical influence of the liquid percolating the matrix of soil. This article analyzes theimpact of the liquid effluents emanating from ore concentrators on the behavior of compacted lateritic soils inwaste containment dikes. It emphasizes the shear strengthparameters of the compacted laterites andpercolated by liquid effluents with different chemical nature. Demineralized water was taken as prototype. The tests include the shear strength measures consolidated drained and undrainedwhen thespecimens were imbibed with the different fluids. The results show that acid and basic liquid effluents affect the shear strength parameters and the strainmodulesareappreciably modified. The effect of the initial suctions and the density before the imbibition was alsoinvestigated, what reveals that the fall of shear strength parameters of lateritic soils, on wetting path (during the passage of the state partially saturated in the saturated state), is all the rougher as the moisture content of implementation during compaction is widely lower than the optimum water content. However, structural changes caused by initialsaturation and density of specimens seem to be more important for explaining the volumetric and deviator behavior than chemical interaction.