Rock Mech. Rock Engng.

(2001) 34 (1), 39±56

Rock Mechanics
and Rock Engineering
: Springer-Verlag 2001
Printed in Austria

The Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope

By

S.-H. Chen1, S.-F. Chen1, I. Shahrour2, and P. Egger3

1 Department of Hydroelectrical Engineering, Wuhan University of Hydraulic and

Electrical Engineering, Wuhan, P.R. China.
2 Lille University of Science and Technology, Villeneuve D'Ascq, France
3 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland

Summary
In this paper a methodology of the feedback analysis on the mechanical parameters and
stability of the slope excavated in rock masses is presented. The method is based on the
combination of the elasto-viscoplastic ®nite element method and the complex shape mini-
mum method. Special attention has been paid to the simulation of the variation of param-
eters because of the blasting damage and the stress relief relaxation, and the de-coupling of
parameters as well. The slope excavated in the granite rock masses situated at the ship lock
of the Three Gorges Project is studied, from which the mechanical parameters of the rock
masses and the deformation, as well as the stability of the rock slope are forecasted in time
as the going on of the slope excavation.

1. Introduction

The deformation and stability of excavated rock slopes is one of the key problems
in geotechnical engineering. This holds for both the design and construction stages.
At present, many methods are being used for the assessment of slope deformation
and stability, which range from the traditional limit equilibrium calculation to
various computational methods. The latter are becoming more and more popular
because of the advancement of the computer industry and the increasing potential
of the numerical methods to deal with complicated engineering structures.
Generally, the main research tasks of computational geomechanics can be
divided into three categories: mechanical model, numerical method, parameter
evaluation. There are a great number of studies concerning the mechanical models
and various numerical methods suitable for rock masses and structures. Each of
them has its special merits and shortcomings. It is not the task of this paper to give
a comprehensive summary of these methods. It should, however, be pointed out
that the ®nite element method, based on the elasto-viscoplastic potential theory
and supplemented by special elements ( joint elements, intercalation elements, etc),
40 S.-H. Chen et al.

covers a large variety of the problems. Hence the evaluation of the geotechnical
parameters becomes the most important task in view of engineering practitioners.
In the conventional design, the mechanical parameters can be obtained by a
comprehensive study of the laboratory and ®eld tests, and by engineering analogy.
So far, the situation is not satisfactory because there are serious disadvantages of
this methodology of parameter evaluation, mainly:
± High cost of large scale investigations and tests;
± Di½cult control of the test conditions in the ®eld and poor representativity of
the laboratory samples;
± Impossibility of detailed investigation during the design stage.
All of these shortcomings may cause a poor evaluation of the parameters
compared with the advanced mechanical models and numerical methods. As a
result, poor predictions may be obtained by the calculation (Chehade and Shahrour
(1992)). To ®ll the gap between the unsatisfactory parameter evaluation and the
advanced mechanical models and numerical methods, a feedback analysis during
the construction stage is highly necessary.
During the construction of a geotechnical structure, new geological features
may be revealed, entailing modi®cations of the construction methods such as the
excavation and reinforcement procedures. In addition, monitoring data, regarding
stresses and displacements in the rock masses, give invaluable messages about the
real state of the structure. All this information helps to answer questions such as:
What is the real state of the structure? How far is the real situation from the design
assumption? Is it necessary and possible to revise the design in time if the di¨er-
ence is large? Nowadays the answer to the last question is positive for both
researchers and practitioners. This relies on the the following reasons:
± The advance of the survey and monitoring technologies;
± The advance of the data treatment methods;
± The advance of the methods of numerical analysis.
The main tasks of the feedback analysis are model identi®cation, parameter
identi®cation, forecast in time. According to the knowledge of the authors, there
are so far no systematic methodologies on the model identi®cation and the fore-
cast in time during construction. A number of works can, however, be found
dealing with the parameter identi®cation by means of model tests, ®eld tests and
monitoring. The messages used can be the observed displacements, the stresses, or
hydraulic pressures. The results of the analysis can be the stress ®eld, the seepage
®eld, or the constitutive parameters (Chehade and Shahrour, 1992; Sakurai and
Takeuchi, 1983).
This paper gives ®rst a brief introduction into the methodology of feedback
analysis, which uses observed displacements and which is based on the elasto-vis-
coplastic FEM and the complex shape optimisation method. Then the slope of the
ship lock of the Three Gorges Project is studied. This is being constructed in
granite. The mechanical model identi®cation is not proceeded because there are no
suitable existing methods so far; therefore the main interest is directed to the
elasto-viscoplastic model parameter identi®cation of the rock masses step by step;
 The Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope 41

based on the results of parameter identi®cation, the deformation as well as the

stability of the slope are predicted in time as the excavation is going on. Special
attention is paid to problems such as the variation of the parameters because of
blasting damage and the stress relief relaxation, and to the de-coupling of the
parameters.

2. The Methodology of the Displacement Feedback Analysis

2.1 Elasto-viscoplastic Finite Element Method
According to the elasto-viscoplastic potential theory (Owen & Hinton, 1980), at
the time tn , the constitutive equation will take the following forms:
8 n n vp n
< fDsg ˆ ‰DŠ…fDeg ÿ fe_ g Dtn †
>
or …1†
>
: n n
_ vp n
fDeg ˆ ‰SŠfDsg ‡ fe g Dtn ;
where Dtn is the length of the time step, [D] and [S] are the elastic matrix and
compliance matrix respectively.
The viscoplastic ¯ow rate is:
 
vp n qQ
fe_ g ˆ g  F  ; …2†
qfsg
where g is the ¯uidity parameter, F and Q are the yield and potential functions
respectively, and the function hFi is de®ned as:

F if F > 0
hF i ˆ …3†
0 if F < 0.
For the yield of the intact rock, both the Mohr-Coulomb and the Drucker-
Prager criteria are widely used; in the present study the latter is implemented in the
FEM program:
8 p
>
> FR ˆ aI1 ‡ J2 ÿ k ˆ 0
>
< q
a ˆ sin jR = 3…3 ‡ sin 2 jR † …4†
>
> q
: k ˆ p3c cos j = 3 ‡ sin 2 j :
>
R R R

The associate ¯ow rule is adopted:

QR ˆ FR : …5†
In Eqs. (2)±(4) cR , jR , gR are the cohesion, friction angle and ¯uidity parameter of
intact rock respectively. The elastic matrix of the intact rock is:
2 3
1 nR =…1 ÿ nR † 0
ER …1 ÿ nR † 4 nR =…1 ÿ nR † 5:
‰DŠR ˆ 1 0
…1 ‡ nR †…1 ÿ 2nR †
0 0 …1 ÿ 2nR †=…1 ÿ nR †=2
…6†
42 S.-H. Chen et al.

For the fault, Goodman joint elements and the Mohr-Coulomb criterion are used:

Fj ˆ jtj j ‡ sj tgjj ÿ cj ; if sj  sTj
…7†
Qj ˆ jtj j ‡ sj tgfj ‡ const:
(
Fj ˆ sj ÿ sTj ; if sj V sTj
2 2 1=2 …8†
Qj ˆ …tj ‡ sj † ‡ const:

where cj , jj , fj , sTj are the cohesion, friction angle, dilation angle and tension
strength respectively. The elastic matrix of the fault is:
 
knj 0
‰DŠj ˆ ; …9†
0 ksj
where the normal sti¨ness and shear sti¨ness can be estimated by:

knj ˆ E=dj
…10†
ksj ˆ G=dj ;
where dj is the thickness of the fault.
The equilibrium equation of the element will be:
‰kŠfDug n ˆ fD f g n ‡ fD f vp g n ; …11†
vp n
where fD f g is the equivalent node force induced by the viscoplastic
deformation.
In the study of practical problems, if the ¯uidity parameter could be obtained
by laboratory and ®eld tests or by a back analysis, the deformation histories as
well as the steady-state results of deformation and failure of a structure could be
calibrated. However, in some cases it is not easy to obtain the appropriate ¯uidity
parameter, or only the elasto-plastic solution is deemed to be of importance.
Under such circumstances it can simply be assumed that the ¯uidity parameter
g ˆ 1. In this way the histories are not applicable, but the steady-state results of
the deformations and failure are identical to the corresponding conventional static
elasto-plastic solution (Owen and Hinton, 1980). This characteristics of the theory
let us decouple the ¯uidity parameter from the other parameters conveniently
which will be illustrated in section 2.3.2.

2.2 The Back Analysis of Displacements

Back analysis is the key step in the feedback analysis. Based on the observed
messages of stress or displacement, the back analysis is either called stress back
analysis or displacement back analysis. Since the accuracy of stress measurements
is modest, the stress back analysis is usually only used for the determination of the
stress ®eld (initial or redistributed). On the other hand, the displacement back
analysis can be used to identify both the stress ®eld and the constitutive parameters.
The displacement back analysis can be classi®ed into two categories according
to the solution method for the implicit parameters of Eq. (11). If a set of equations
 The Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope 43

is deduced from Eq. (11) to solve the parameters, the method is called inverse back
analysis (Sakurai and Takeuchi, 1983). If an optimisation calculation is used in
combination with the common FEM to minimise the di¨erence between the
observed and calculated displacements, the method is called direct back analysis
(Feng and Lewis, 1987; Gioda and Maier, 1980; Koichi and Kouichi, 1987; Maier
and Gioda, 1981; Maniatty and Zabaras, 1989; Ngugen, 1984). The former is easy
to be implemented in the computer software, but the latter can be applied to a
wider range of problems. In the research presented in this paper, the algorithm of
direct back analysis is implemented, based on the displacement messages obtained
during the construction.
The function to be optimized is de®ned as the norm of the di¨erence between
the calculated and the observed displacement at the observation points:
X
Fˆ DuiT Dui

Dui ˆ ui ÿ ui ; …12†
where i is the numbering of the observation point;
ui is the calculated displacement by the FEM at the observation point i;
ui is the observed displacement at the point i.
There are various methods to reach the minimum of F under the following
restrained conditions:
MIN:F …E; n; c; j†
El U E U Eu
nl U n U nu …13†
cl U c U cu
j l U j U j u:
The superscripts l and u of the parameters mean the inferior and upper limits
of the parameters during the search of the optimal solution.
The complex shape method (Rao, 1984) is adopted in this research because of
its simplicity for implementation. However, it should be pointed out that the cal-
culation e½ciency of the method is not very high.

2.3 The Strategy of Feedback Analysis

th
Suppose the i step of the excavation is to be predicted. In the process of the
analysis, the parameters and the stress ®eld obtained in the …i ÿ 1†th step feedback
analysis are used. The common elasto-viscoplastic FEM analysis yields the possi-
ble displacements, stresses as well as the stability of the slope when the excavation
is completed. After the i th excavation step is completed, and the monitored data
come out, the precision of the prediction can be checked. Then, based on the
monitored data from the i th step of excavation, the back analysis is conducted. An
improved set of parameters can be obtained for the prediction of the next step
(i ‡ 1) of excavation.
44 S.-H. Chen et al.

Fig. 1. The local minimum and global minimum

During the analysis, problems may arise which cannot only be solved by the
computer method and displacement messages. Therefore, knowledge from the
investigation as well as the engineering experience is useful.

2.3.1 The Problem of Local Minimum and Global Minimum

Since the function F de®ned in Eq. (12) is not linear, it is possible to ®nd a local
minimum other than the requested global one (Fig. 1) during the optimisation
calculation. The mathematical method to identify if a point is a local minimum
and swift away from the local minimum point in time, is di½cult since the function
F is very complicated. To deal with this di½culty it is proposed:
1) to de-couple the parameters, not to try to identify all parameters at once;
2) to de®ne the upper and inferior bounds of the parameters according to the
values obtained by experiments and by engineering experiences.

2.3.2 The Problem of Parameter De-coupling

The observation indicates no obvious creep deformation in the slope before 1997,
but designers have been disputing that after the completion of the excavation there
could be creep displacements large enough to in¯uence to the normal operation of
the miter gates of the ship lock. The observation after 1997 shows that there are
some time-dependent displacements as the excavation goes on deeper and deeper,
so at last it is decided that the ¯uidity parameter should be back analysed; there-
fore the back analysis mainly concerns the parameters g, E, u, c and f, which are
coupled. If all parameters in all types of rock are expected to be obtained, it will
be found that there is no de®nite solution. For a set of observation data, a possi-
ble combination may yield a high value of E but low values of c and f, or low E,
 The Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope 45

but high c and f. In addition, c and f are coupled too. For the moment, the
problem cannot be solved only by a mathematical theory. Therefore the following
approach is proposed:
1) In view of the characteristics of the elasto-viscoplastic theory, which has been
re¨ered in the section 2.1, that if ¯uidity parameter g ˆ 1, the histories are
not applicable, but the steady-state results of the deformations and failure are
identical to the corresponding conventional static elasto-plastic solution, the
parameters E, u, c and f can be back analysed ®rstly using the convergent
displacements, then the displacement procedure will be simulated to get real
¯uidity parameter g.
2) Since u is relatively less important than the other parameters, this parameter
may be ®xed from the beginning of the back analysis, according to the data
used in the design. After a de®nite number of steps of the back analysis, when
nearly all the other parameters are obtained, one step may be used to check the
parameter u and to make the revision if necessary. During this step all the other
parameters are ®xed.
3) Since at the beginning of the excavation there are no, or only limited, yield
zones in the rock slope, the monitoring data of the ®rst few steps can be used to
evaluate the elastic modulus E only. In this calculation, the strength parameters
c and f are ®xed according to the data used in the design. Then, as the exca-
vation proceeds, the parameters c and f will be back analyzed. After a certain
number of calculation steps, the data of one step may be used to check the
correctness of E and to make a revision if necessary.
4) Since there are many types of rock masses and faults with di¨erent strength
parameters in a slope, it is not advisable to evaluate all strength parameters of
all rock masses. At each step of back analysis, the attention should be focused
on the strength parameters of the rock situated close to the excavation surface.
In this way, the strength parameters are obtained from the upper part to the
lower part of the slope with the ongoing excavation.
5) Since the angle of friction j is usually more stable, it is suggested to ®x at the
beginning the friction angle j according to the data used in the design. The
back analysis yields the cohesion c. Then the cohesion c is ®xed to calculate the
friction angle j. This iteration procedure is expected to give a good and stable
estimation of the strength parameters.

2.3.3 The Problem of Relaxation Due to Blasting Damage and Stress Relief
The excavation of a slope causes a stress redistribution in the rock mass, and a
band, mainly a¨ected by relaxation due to stress relief, will be formed. In addition,
there occurs another type of relaxation band, mainly because of the e¨ect of
blasting damage, although stress relief also plays an important role. The relax-
ation due to stress relief is mainly induced by tension and shear on the existing
discontinuities. The depth of this band may range from 5 m to 20 m. The band
which is mainly a¨ected by blasting damage shows new cracks and ®ssures over a
depth in the range of 0.5 m to 5 m. The decrease of strength is less pronounced in
46 S.-H. Chen et al.

the former band than in the latter. Inside the relaxation band, due to stress relief,
the parameters of the rock mass undergo but a slight variation.
The stability of the excavated slope is strongly in¯uenced by these two types of
bands. The designer and the owner also pay high attention to this problem. In the
case considered there, local failure may frequently occur in these bands, and rock
bolts are systematically installed, depending on the probable characteristics of the
bands. In the feedback analysis, two bands are de®ned along the slope excavation
face whose parameters change with the ongoing excavation. The thickness of the
bands is de®ned on the base of ultrasonic investigations.

3. Application to the Engineering Practice

3.1 General
The slope which is studied by means of the feedback analysis, is at present being
excavated for the construction of a ®ve stage ship lock. The ship lock is situated in
sound granite. Comprehensive studies were conducted before the excavation by
the designer ``Changjiang Water Resources Commission'', which concluded that
there would be no danger of massive instability of the slope. During the con-
struction, local failures along discontinuities and caused by blasting damage as
well as by stress relief were, however, perceived to happen frequently. It is worth-
while to note that the studies carried out are unable to yield consistent results
regarding the deformation of the slope. For example, the maximum displacement
predicted ranges from several centimetres to over one hundred centimetres.
Therefore, the designer and the owner requested a supplementary study by means
of the feedback analysis technique for the prediction of deformations, stresses and
the stability of the slope during the construction.
The section 20-20, located at the gate chamber of the third ship lock, is chosen
as a typical section to conduct the feedback analysis. The layout of the monitoring
points is shown in Fig. 2. The Fig. 3 shows the rock material subzone of the
section 20-20. The ship lock is mainly located in fresh or slightly weathered rock.
The rock masses can be classi®ed into 5 types according to the degree of weath-
ering: totally weathered, strongly weathered, weakly weathered, slightly weathered
and fresh. Besides, there are two main faults f1222, f1007, the corresponding
fragmentized bands, the rock dyke EX.
According to the excavation construction schedule, the section had been exca-
vated by 17 steps from the beginning in January 1995 to the end of April 1999.
The Fig. 4 shows the excavation levels and the corresponding dates.

3.2 Consideration of the Blasting Damage Relaxation Band and Stress Relief
Relaxation Band
According to the ultrasonic detection in the ®eld, two bands (blasting damage
relaxation band and stress relief band) are de®ned along the slope excavation face
whose parameters change with the ongoing excavation. The depth of the ®rst
 The Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope 47

Fig. 2. Layout of the monitoring points of the section 20-20

Fig. 3. Rock material subzone of the section 20-20

48 S.-H. Chen et al.

Fig. 4. The excavation levels and the corresponding dates

band, which is induced by both the ®ssuration due to blasting damage and the
relaxation due to stress relief, is approximately 5 m. The depth of the second band,
which is mainly induced by stress relief, is approximately 20 m. The boundary
between these two bands is also shown in Fig. 4.

3.3 The Initial Stress Field

The initial stress ®eld is back analyzed according to the stresses measured in situ.
At the beginning of the excavation, the initial stress ®eld of the totally and strongly
weathered rock masses is mainly de®ned by the gravity and is therefore calculated
as follows:
( n
sy ˆ ÿ gH
1ÿn …14†
sz ˆ ÿgH;

In the slightly weathered and fresh rock masses, the initial stress ®eld is calcu-
lated by:
8
> sxx ˆ ÿ4:3867 ÿ 0:01184H
>
>
< syy ˆ ÿ4:5344 ÿ 0:01129H
…15†
>
> szz ˆ ÿ1:4629 ÿ 0:03031H
>
:
syz ˆ 0:04623 ‡ 0:00002H:

In the weakly weathered rock masses, the initial stress ®eld is calculated
according to a linear interpolation between the strongly weathered rock masses
 The Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope 49

Fig. 5. The distribution of initial stress ®eld

Fig. 6. The FE mesh of the section 20-20 used in the calculation

and slightly weathered rock masses. In the Eqs. (14)±(15), H is the depth of the
overburden rock masses (Fig. 5).

3.4 The FE Mesh and Main Feedback Analysis Procedure

The FE mesh used in the calculation is prepared which can simulate the excava-
tion procedure step by step, and let all the monitor points be located at the nodes;
the mesh includes 2250 elements and 2322 nodes (Fig. 6).
Since the mechanical parameters of the fresh rock, slightly weathered rock,
faults f1222 and f1007, the fragmentized bands and the rock dyke are less in¯u-
enced by the relaxation due to blasting damage and stress relief, they are ®xed
after the ®rst three of feedback analysis. From the fourth step of excavation the
attention is focused, on the one hand, on the changes of mechanical parameters of
the blasting damage relaxation band and the stress relief relaxation band. On the
other hand, the deformation and stability predictions are given particular atten-
tion. During each step of the feedback analysis the principles for the treatment of
local minimum and de-coupling of the parameters, which have been illustrated in
the section 2 of this paper, will be observed.
50 S.-H. Chen et al.

Table 1. Mechanical parameters of the slightly weathered and fresh rock, weakly weathered rock,
faults f1222 and f1007, the fragmentized bands, and the rock dyke

Young's modulus Cohesion Poisson's

E c Friction angle ratio
(MPa) (MPa) j n

Back Design Back Design Back Design Back Design

analyzed analyzed analyzed analyzed

Totally and * * * *
strongly 300 300 0.2 0.2 36 36 0.35 0.35
weathered
Weakly * * * *
weathered 5000 5000 0.8 0.8 47 47 0.25 0.25
Slightly *
weathered 32000 35000 1.72 2.0 58.7 59.5 0.2 0.2
and fresh
Fragmentized *
bands 11500 10000 1.10 1.5 44.1 52.4 0.25 0.25
Rock dyke EX *
8300 15000 1.2 1.0 55 52.4 0.25 0.25
Fault (f1222) * * * *
3500 3500 0.5 0.5 35 35 0.3 0.3
Fault (f1007) * * * *
3500 3500 0.5 0.5 35 35 0.3 0.3

* means the parameter is only given by the designer and not back analyzed.

Table 2. Fluidity parameters of the rock masses

Material Totally Weakly Slightly Fragmen- Rock Blasting Stress Fault

¯uidity and weathered weathered tized dyke damage relief f1222
strongly and fresh bands EX band band and
weathered f1007

1=g 24.9 35.0 221.0 84.6 55.7 103.0 167.4 24.0

(GPa.d)

3.5 The Main Results

3.5.1 Parameters
According to the geology condition, the observed displacements from the mon-
itoring instruments, and the feedback analysis principles proposed above, the
feedback analysis was conducted successfully during the conducted excavation of
the ship lock slope. The mechanical parameters back analyzed are shown in the
Table 1, Table 2 and Figs. 7±9. For the sake of comparison, the data used in the
design are also marked. It can be found that for the slightly weathered and fresh
rock, weakly weathered rock, faults f1222 and f1007, the fragmentized bands, and
the rock dyke, whose mechanical parameters are supposed to be ®xed during the
excavation, the back analyzed parameters are a bit lower than that used in the
design. For the rock masses in the blasting damage band and stress relief band,
 The Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope 51

Fig. 7. Young's modulus E of the blasting damage band and the stress relief band

Fig. 8. Cohesion c of the blasting damage band and the stress relief band

Fig. 9. Friction angle j of the blasting damage band and the stress relief band
52 S.-H. Chen et al.

Fig. 10. Horizontal displacement at TP/BM13GP01

Fig. 11. Horizontal displacement at TP/BM36GP02

the mechanical parameters E and c back analysed decrease step by step following
the process of the excavation. However, the friction angle j is relatively stable,
that means the friction angle j is less a¨ected by the stress relaxation.

3.5.2 Displacements
The displacements at some typical monitoring points predicted by the feedback
analysis are shown in the Fig. 10±Fig. 13. Compared with the observed displace-
ments shown in the same Figures, it can be seen that the feedback analysis gives
good prediction of the displacements of the ship lock slope during the excavation.
The excavation of the section was completed in April 1999. Figure 14 shows
the accumulated displacements of the section when the excavation is completed;
the feedback calculation indicates that the maximum displacement is 71.63 mm,
which will occur at the south slope. The elasto-viscoplastic analysis forecasts that
there is maximum 1.42 mm time-dependent displacement, which will be converged
The Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope 53

Fig. 12. Horizontal displacement at TP/BM72GP01

Fig. 13. Horizontal displacement at TP/BM99GP02

Fig. 14. Accumulated displacements

54 S.-H. Chen et al.

Fig. 15. Stress distribution after the completion of excavation

within 7±8 months after the completion of the excavation. Therefore the conclu-
sion could be made that if the miter gates are installed after the end of 1999, there
is no risk of hazardous displacement in¯uencing the normal operation of the gates.
It is worthwhile to indicate that the ®eld observation data so far have veri®ed the
above predictions.

3.5.3 Stresses and Stability

Figure 15 is the stress distribution after the completion of excavation. According
to the prediction of the 17th step, when the excavation of the ship lock is com-
pleted, the maximum stress at the bottom corner of the south slope is 24.7 MPa,
and at the bottom corner of the north slope the maximum stress is 24.1 MPa.
Since the long term creep strength is approximately 50 MPa, there is no danger of
long term creep deformation which could jeopardize the long term operation of
the miter gates.
The analysis also shows that there are tensile stresses in the separation pier of
the double track ship lock with maximum value of 0.817 MPa and maximum
depth of 28 m from the top of the pier. It means that cracking and local failure
could occur frequently during the excavation construction. Therefore more atten-
tion should be paid to the reinforcement of this area.

4. Conclusions
The feedback analysis is shown to be a good way to supplement the indetermina-
tion of the parameters in the investigation and design stages. Using the data
obtained by monitoring during the construction stage, both the parameters and
the design of the structure may be justi®ed and revised if necessary. The feedback
 The Feedback Analysis of Excavated Rock Slope 55

analysis has been widely used in geotechnical engineering such as underground

works. This paper deals with a large scale surface excavation in complex geologi-
cal conditions.
The methodology presented in the paper is simple from the point view of
mathematics and mechanics. The elasto-viscoplastic FEM combined with the
complex shape optimisation method works well in the calculation. Some problems
such as the local minimum and global minimum, the de-coupling of parameters,
the uniqueness of solution, etc., can, however, not directly be solved by calculation
because of the complexity of the engineering conditions. The feedback analysis can
nontheless yield satisfactory results if the problems are approached properly.
Monitoring, the understanding of the construction procedure, and engineering
experience help to obtain a good issue. This is illustrated by the rock slope exca-
vation presented in this paper.

Acknowledgement
The work is supported by the National Electrical Power Corporation of China, the Three
Gorges Project Development Corporation, and the Changjiang Water Resources Commis-
sion. The thanks of the authors are also to the Science and Technology University of Lille
who provided a visiting professor position for the ®rst author from May to July of 1999 to
complete this research.

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Authors' address: Sheng-Hong Chen, Department of Hydroelectrical Engineering,

Wuhan University of Hydraulic and Electrical Engineering, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, P.R.
China.