scholarly journals Discontinuous rock slope stability analysis by limit equilibrium approaches – a review

Author(s):  
Mohammad Azarafza ◽  
Haluk Akgün ◽  
Akbar Ghazifard ◽  
Ebrahim Asghari-Kaljahi ◽  
Jafar Rahnamarad ◽  
...  
Heliyon ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. e03907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Azarafza ◽  
Haluk Akgün ◽  
Mohammad-Reza Feizi-Derakhshi ◽  
Mehdi Azarafza ◽  
Jafar Rahnamarad ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 1350044 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHUHONG WANG ◽  
PENGPENG NI

Rock slopes stability has been one of the fundamental issues facing geotechnical engineering researchers. Due to the pre-existing joints, the intactness of the rock is weakened. The mechanical characteristics are changed correspondingly along with joint-induced stress redistribution within the rock mass if the sliding limit at the joint or part of it is exceeded. In this study, spatial block topological identification techniques are applied to distinguish all blocks cut by 3D finite random or fixed discontinuities. Based on the available photographic information of rock slopes, the sliding forces and the corresponding factor of safety are evaluated through limit equilibrium conditions by the classic block theory. The rock slope stability analysis software, GeoSMA-3D (Geotechnical Structure and Model Analysis), satisfying the requirements of spatial block modeling, joint plane simulation, key block identification and analysis and sliding process display, was developed. The application of such a software on the analysis of a rock slope, which is located near the inlet of Daiyuling No. 1 tunnel on the Zhuanghe–Gaizhou highway networks, was performed. The assessed results were compared with the monitored data to validate the effectiveness of such software.


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 319
Author(s):  
Musah Abdulai ◽  
Mostafa Sharifzadeh

The rock slope stability analysis can be performed using deterministic and probabilistic approaches. The deterministic analysis based on the safety concept factor uses fixed representative values for each input parameter involved without considering the variability and uncertainty of the rock mass properties. Probabilistic analysis with the calculation of probability of failure instead of the factor of safety against failure is emerging in practice. Such analyses offer a more rational approach to quantify risk by incorporating uncertainty in the input variables and evaluating the probability of the failure of a system. In rock slope engineering, uncertainty and variability involve a large scatter of geo-structural data and varied geomechanical test results. There has been extensive reliability analysis of rock slope stability in the literature, and different methods of reliability are being employed for assessment of the probability of failure and the reliability of a slope. Probabilistic approaches include Monte Carlo simulation (MCS), the point estimate method (PEM), the response surface method (RSM), first- and second-order reliability methods (FORMs and SORMs), and the first-order second-moment method (FOSM). Although these methods may be complicated, they provide a more complete definition of risk. Probabilistic slope stability analysis is an option in most commercial software; however, the use of this method is not common in practice. This paper provides an overview of the literature on some of the main probabilistic reliability-based methods available for the design of the rock slope in open pit mining. To demonstrate its applicability, the paper investigates the stability of a rock slope in an open pit mine in the Goldfields region, Western Australia. Two different approaches were adopted: deterministic stability analysis using two-dimensional limit equilibrium and finite element shear strength reduction methods using SLIDE and RS2 software, respectively, and probabilistic analysis by applying the MCS and RSM methods in the limit equilibrium method. In this example, the slope stability analysis was performed using the Spencer method with Cuckoo search optimization to locate the critical slip surface. The results obtained were compared and commented on.


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