11.

0 Stability of Rock Slopes

Classification of Stability Problems
Factors affecting the stability
Stability analysis
 Classification of Stability Problems
The classification of rock slope is based on the mode of failure.

In a majority of cases, the slope failures in rock masses are governed by

joints and occur across surfaces formed by one or several joints.

An analysis of slope stability is an engineering assessment of slope safety

against failure. Slope strength and forces for failure are the two major
components which should be considered in the analysis.

The main aims of the slope analysis may be

– to study the stability of different types of slope under given conditions
– to know the possibility of landslides (Rock Slides)
– to analyze landslides those have already occurred and assist in understanding
of failure mechanism and influences of environmental factors
– to enable to redesign of failed slope, and the planning and design of
preventive and remedial measures where necessary.
– to enable to study the effects of earthquake on a slope, variation of
groundwater pressure and shear strength parameters.
 Factors affecting the slope stability

• Rock slope stability is essentially governed by the joint sets, their relative
orientation, and the gouge material present in the joints and extent of
excavation with respect to spacing.

• The main factors, which affect the slope stability are as follows:

 Rock type boundaries and mechanical properties

 Faults and weakness zones
 Detailed jointing
 Groundwater and climatic conditions
 Rock stresses
 Geometrical conditions
 Blast vibration and potential earthquake activity

• Principal types of instability phenomena and spherical representation of the

structural conditions, which can determine these instability events is present
in the next slide.
• Broadly speaking, the modes of failure of rock slopes are
– Circular
– Planar
– Wedge and
– Toppling
• Among these types of failures Planar and Wedge failure is more common in
hard rock.

• Circular (Rotational) Failure

• It occurs along a surface which only partially develops along joints, but
mainly crosses them. These failure can only happen in heavily jointed rock
masses with a very small block size and/or very weak or heavily weathered
rock.
• It is essential that all the joints are oriented favorably so that planar and
wedge failures are not possible.
• The failure modes involves the movement of a mass of material upon a
failure surface.
• An analysis of failure or a calculation of the factor of safety for these slopes
requires that the shear strength of the failure surface, defined by c and φ),
be known.
• There are a few types of slope failures which cannot be analyzed even if the
strength of material is known, because failure does not involve simple
sliding.
Planar (Translational) Failure

• Planar (Translational) failure takes place along prevalent and/or

continuous joints dipping towards the slope, with strike nearly parallel
(150) to slope face. Stability condition occurs if
• (i) critical joint dip is less than the slope angle, and
• (ii) mobilized joint shear strength is not enough to assure stability.
• Generally, a planar failure depends on joint continuity.

Wedge Failure

• Wedge failure occurs along two joints of different sets when these two
discontinuities strike obliquely across the slope face and their line of
intersection day-lights in the slope face, (Hoek & Bray, 1981).
• The wedge failure depends on joints' attitude and conditions and is more
frequent than planar failure.
• The factor of safety of a rock wedge to slide increases significantly with
the decreasing wedge angle for any given dip of the intersection of its two
joint planes (Hoek and Bray, 1981 ).
Toppling Failure (Topples)
• Toppling failure with its stereo plot are shown in Figure 16.1d. This mode of rock slope
failure is explained as follows.
• Consider a block of rock resting on an inclined plane as shown in Figure 16.2a. Here
the dimensions of the block are defined by height 'h' and base length 'b' and it is
assumed that the force resisting the downward movement of the block is friction only,
i.e., cohesion is almost zero.

• When the vector representing weight of the block 'W' falls within the base 'b', sliding
of the block will occur if the inclination of the plane  is greater than the angle of
friction φ.
• However, when the block is tall and slender (h > b), the weight vector W can fall
outside the base b and, when this happens, the block will topple, i.e., it will rotate
about its lowest contact edge (Hoek and Bray, 1981 ).
• Wedge toppling occurs along a rock wedge where a third joint set intersects the
wedge towards the hill side. The process of toppling is slow.
Ravelling Slopes (Falls)
• Accumulation of screes or small pieces of rock which have detached from
the rock mass at the base of steep slopes and the cyclic expansion and
contraction associated with freezing and thawing of water in cracks and
fissures in the rock mass are the principal reasons of slope ravelling.
• A gradual deterioration of materials which cement the individual rock
blocks together may also play a part in this type of slope failure.
• Weathering or the deterioration of certain types of rock on exposure, will
also give rise to the loosening of a rock mass and the gradual
accumulation of materials on the surface which falls at the base of the
slope.
 Stability Analysis
• To analyze slope stability it is necessary to study important affecting
factors mostly orientation & characteristics of discontinuity and
ground water, in detail.
• A number of methods (Statistical Analysis, Geotechnical
Engineering Approaches, Use of index maps etc,) have been
developed.
• Geotechnical Engineering approaches (deterministic and
probabilistic) are common today in the field of engineering.
• Traditionally deterministic approach of calculating the stabilizing
and driving forces to arrive a factor of safety has been the
predominant method in the field of geological engineering and rock
mechanics.
• But recent years probabilistic approach with the calculation of
probability failure instead of factor of safety against failure has
become more common.
• Other methods are:
– Empirical method
– Numerical modeling
 Plane Failure
• Figure beside shows a typical plane failure in a rock slope where a block of rock has
slid on a single plane dipping out of the face.
• In order for this type of failure to occur, the following geometrical conditions must be
satisfied (Figure (a)):
(a) The plane on which sliding occurs must strike parallel or nearly parallel (within approximately
±20◦) to the slope face.
(b) The sliding plane must “daylight” in the slope face, which means that the dip of the plane must be
less than the dip of the slope face, that is, ψp <ψf.
(c) The dip of the sliding plane must be greater than the angle of friction of this plane, that is, ψp >φ.
(d) The upper end of the sliding surface either intersects the upper slope, or terminates in a tension
crack.
(e) Release surfaces that provide negligible resistance to sliding must be present in the rock mass to
define the lateral boundaries of the slide. Alternatively, failure can occur on a sliding plane passing
through the convex “nose” of a slope.
 Plane failure analysis
• The slope geometries and ground water conditions considered in this analysis are
defined in Figure below, which shows two geometries as follows:
(a) slopes having a tension crack in the upper surface; and
(b) slopes with a tension crack in the face.
• When the upper surface is horizontal (ψs = 0), the transition from one condition to
another occurs when the tension crack coincides with the slope crest, that is when

Where
z is the depth of the
tension crack,
H is the slope height,
ψf is the slope face
angle and
ψp is the dip of the
sliding plane.
The following assumptions are made in plane failure analysis:

(a) Both sliding surface and tension crack strike parallel to the slope.

(b) The tension crack is vertical and is filled with water to a depth zw.

(c) Water enters the sliding surface along the base of the tension crack and
seeps along the sliding surface, escaping at atmospheric pressure where the
sliding surface daylights in the slope face. The pressure distributions induced
by the presence of water in the tension crack and along the sliding surface are
illustrated in Figure above.

(d) The forces W (the weight of the sliding block), U (uplift force due to water
pressure on the sliding surface) and V (force due to water pressure in the
tension crack) all act through the centroid of the sliding mass. In other words,
it is assumed that there are no moments that would tend to cause rotation of
the block, and hence failure is by sliding only. While this assumption may not
be strictly true for actual slopes, the errors introduced by ignoring moments
are small enough to neglect. However, in steep slopes with steeply dipping
discontinuities, the possibility of toppling failure should be kept in mind.
(e) The shear strength t of the sliding surface
is defined by cohesion c and friction angle f
that are related by the equation τ = c + σ tan
φ . In the case of a rough surface or a rock
mass having a curvilinear shear strength
envelope, the apparent cohesion and
apparent friction angle are defined by a
tangent that takes into account the normal
stress acting on the sliding surface. The
normal stress s acting on a sliding surface can
be determined from the curves given in
adjacent Figure.

(f) It is assumed that release surfaces are

present so that there is no resistance to
sliding at the lateral boundaries of the failing
rock mass Figure (b) of slide no 17.

(g) In analyzing two-dimensional slope

problems, it is usual to consider a slice of unit
thickness taken at right angles to the slope
face. This means that on a vertical section
through the slope, the area of the sliding
surface can be represented by the length of
the surface, and the volume of the sliding
block is represented by the cross-section area
of the block Figure (c) of slide no 17.