Open pit quarries often form large slopes after a long-term excavation. In early 1990s, some large failures of those slopes in Japan occurred. Therefore a method for monitoring the slope stability is necessary and should be established immediately.
The Global Positioning System, a surveying system using artificial satellites, is a promising method for monitoring long-term stability of large slopes. The GPS offers several advantages which include: it is a three dimensional measurement system with high accuracy for a long baseline, and measurement can be taken during night and day under varying weather condition with portable equipment. The first and third authors have developed a new system by using the GPS for monitoring ground displacements at real-time.
In this paper, the GPS displacement monitoring system is outlined and a field experiment to investigate the applicability of the system at a practical slope is described and the results are discussed.
