CASE STUDY: Comparing Slide3 models to actual

slope failure in an open cut coal mine

Alison McQuillan – University of New South Wales Sydney

& Rocscience Inc.
Ismet Canbulat – University of New South Wales Sydney
Joung Oh – University of New South Wales Sydney
Steven Gale – Thiess
Thamer Yacoub – Rocscience Inc.

In this case study, Slide3 was used to determine the likely

behaviour of an open cut coal mine excavated slope. As
the slope’s actual performance was known, this was an
ideal case study to test the reliability of the slope stability
analysis methodology in Slide3. Figure 1. Case study: Pre-failure highwall geometry (highwall height
approximately 53 m)

This case is sourced from an open cut coal mine in

Queensland, Australia. The excavated slope (i.e. highwall)
under review was excavated using a dragline for the main
overburden, and then truck and shovel for coal removal.
The highwall under review was pre-split to a design of
65 degrees and consisted of a light-coloured sandstone
upper band approximately 10 to 15 m thick followed by an
interbedded sandstone and siltstone horizon down to the
target coal seam. The coal was excavated 12 hours prior
to the highwall failure. The geological model indicated no
major structure within the failed area; however, seismic
lines have located large faulting (approximately 20 to 50
m in displacement) east of the failure area (approximately
80 m away). Pre-failure dimensions and conditions are
illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 2. Case study: Pre-failure slope conditions

Pre-failure, as built slope geometry (acquired from Maptek
(2017) i-site scans, three days prior to the failure event)
and surfaces of significant units (i.e. coal roof and floors
exported from the geological model) were input into
the Slide3 model. Anisotropic material strengths were
assigned, with weaker strengths assigned in the directions
of orthogonal jointing previously measured in the area.
Material strengths used in Slide3 modelling are typical of
those applied in the Bowen Basin, where the case study is
located, as shown in Table 1.

1
 MATERIAL UNIT WEIGHT (KN/M 3) COHESION (KPA) FRICTION ANGLE (º)

Fresh Coal Measure Rock 24 110 30

Fresh Coal 15 35 30

Joint 15 2 12

Jointed Coal Measure Rock Joint set 1: Dip = 81°; Dip Direction = 132°
Joint set 2: Dip = 74°; Dip Direction = 49°

Table 1. Case study: Modelled material strengths

Groundwater conditions were not well defined by
operations prior to the failure event. The site had
significant rainfall associated with regional weather event
Tropical Cyclone Debbi approximately two months before
the slope failure. The site had no groundwater monitoring
stations located within the vicinity of the failed slope and
therefore could not quantify any build-up of pore pressure
behind the slope as a result of this rain event. However, no
evidence of water seepage out of the face was present in
the days leading up to slope failure. Highwall conditions
were therefore initially modelled as dry, understanding the
FOS calculated would be over-estimated if increased pore
pressures were present behind the excavated slope face.
Slide3 model settings were as follows:
• Slip surface = Ellipsoid
• Search method = Cuckoo Search with Surface
Altering Optimization
• Analysis methods = Janbu.
Without applying slope search limits, the critical failure
surface as calculated by Slide3 is presented in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Case study: Slide3 model output displaying the location of the critical (lowest FOS) failure surface and contours of Base Normal Stress
(kPa)

2

Actual failed conditions are shown in Figure 4.
By comparing the location of the calculated critical failure
surface, Figure 3, with actual slope failure conditions, there
is a good correlation between the Slide3 predicted critical
area and where failure occurred, Figure 5.
Acknowledgements
The case study in this paper was extracted from an
upcoming publication titled ‘Geotechnical Review of an
Open Cut Coal Mine Slope using 3D Limit Equilibrium
Modelling and New Empirical Run Out Prediction Charts’
which has been accepted for presentation at the Slope
Stability Symposium in Seville, Spain, April 2018. The
research presented in this paper is funded by the Australian
Coal Association Research Program (ACARP).
Figure 5. Case study: Comparison of Slide3
predicted critical failure surface location (red
polygon) vs actual failure location (greyscale).
Slide3 predicted the critical failure surface within
approximately 35 m of the actual slope failure.
Figure 4. Case study:
Post-failure slope condi-
tions
References
1. Cheng, Y., Yip, C. 2007, Three-dimensional asymmetrical
slope stability analysis extension of Bishop’s, Janbu’s
and Morgenstern-Price’s techniques, J. Geotech.
Geoenvironment, 133 (12), 1544-1555.
2. Maptek Pty Ltd. 2017, http://www.maptek.com/products/i-
site/i-site_studio.html. Online reference.
3. McQuillan, A. 2015-, New Methodology for Estimating the
Likelihood and Consequence of Excavated Slope Failure
in an Unaltered Sedimentary Deposit, PhD Thesis – To be
Submitted, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
4. Rocscience Inc. 2016, Slide Version 7.0 - 2D Limit
Equilibrium Slope Stability Analysis. www.rocscience.com,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
5. Rocscience Inc. 2017, Slide3 Version 1.0 - 3D Limit
Equilibrium Slope Stability Analysis. www.rocscience.com,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada.