Abstract
The stability of rock slopes in discontinuous rock mass associated with the construction of power plants, highways and open-pit mines is always of paramount importance during the lifetime of these structures. As compared with soil slopes, the failure modes of slopes are various and are closely associated with the spatial distributions of discontinuities in relation to slope geometry and their mechanical resistances as well as those of intact rock. Therefore, any design scheme for rock slopes must consider various possible failure modes and evaluate the stability of designed slopes in relation to the above elements. In this paper, the authors first classified various failure modes in relation to the spatial distributions of discontinuities in relation to slope geometry and its mechanical properties as well as those of intact rock and have developed a system for such analysis. Then, they used this system to predict the stability of rock slopes of a dam site in intercalated sandstone and shale against various possible forms of instability before the excavation. The results of this investigation are presented and then are compared with those observed during and after the construction of the slopes. It is found that the developed system is proved to efficient and capable of providing reliable answers for the designers.
