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Rock slope stability analysis

Article  in  Canadian Geotechnical Journal · April 1994

DOI: 10.1139/t94-039

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Rock slope stability analysis
Received November 24, 1993
Accepted December 13, 1993
Can. Geotech. J. 31, 319 (1994)
Rock slope stability analysis. G.P. Giani. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 1992. 361 pp.
The 10 chapters of the book are of unequal length. The
first 28 pages, devoted to Problem definition and landslide
Can. Geotech. J. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by University of Alberta on 04/12/18
classification, are followed by a 17 page introduction to
Rock slope engineering and then 50 pages on Geomechanical
characterization of discontinuities. Chapter 4 on Shear
strength is 46 pages long. Groundwater flow in rock masses
receives 20 pages, Geomechanical models is a little longer,
and Rockfalls, topples and buckles is longer still. Sliding
phenomena analysis takes 55 pages, and the book concludes
with chapters on the Dynamic equilibrium equation method
and Stabilization and protection methods. The list of refer-
ences occupies 15 pages and contains almost 300 selections.
There is no index or any list of the figures and photographs
that occur on almost every page. Nor is there a list of sym-
bols o r an attempt to use symbols in a consistent way
throughout the book.
Giani has translated and updated his own Italian text writ-
For personal use only.
ten for students at the Technical University of Turin in 1988.
There are, however, no exercises or questions for students in
the book. Giani has been poorly served by his translator.
The use of words such as motilitable, kinematisms, morenic,
filladic, and graphitous is like the proverbial thirteenth chime
of the grandfather clock. It casts doubt on what has gone
before and discredits what is to follow. Canadians d o not
escape: Fredlung (correct spelling is Fredlund) is referenced
twice, and Hungr and Evans (1988) are quoted at length on
rockfalls but from a paper titled Notes on dynamic analysis
of flowslides. The correct (and valuable) reference is given
below. The experienced reader will often recognize what is
intended, but an independent student would be unwise to
rely on this book alone.
Readers will enjoy interesting photographs of Italian rock
slides, free from any distractions by scales or labels. The
captions may be cryptic but stimulating. Plate 7.1 claims
Prtnrcd in Canada / lrnprmi. au Canada
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,
, * \
"Rockfall tests are carried out in sites where the danger of
u
falling blocks can involve civil structures and urban settle-
ments." Some figures are freehand sketches that are difficult
to interpret. I had problems, for instance, with Fig. 1.4,
which classified topples into single, multiple, and debris
topples.
The subject matter is eclectic. The section on disconti-
nuity orientation (Chap. 3.4, pp. 56-72) gives two pages
to a particular method of manually contouring projections of
the poles of discontinuities. This tool has been made obso-
lete by computer-based methods of assessing the distribution
of poles; Giani presents two examples..bf these (Fig. 3.13) but
makes no further reference to them. Canadian readers should
take up the appropriate chapter#;on the Pit slope manual
(Herget 1977) to place this section in perspective.
There are other examples of the selection of subjects
which are not in the current mainstream of Canadian prac-
tice. Clearly then, this is n o t the first book to buy on rock
slope stability analysis, but connoisseurs of the genre may
find it provocative.
Herget, G. 1977. Pit slope manual. Chap. 2. Structural geology.
Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology Report
77-41,
Hungr, O., and Evans, S.E. 1988. Engineering evaluation of
fragmental rockfall hazards. In Proceedings of the 5th Inter-
national Symposium on Landslides. Lausanne, Switz., July
10-15, 1988. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Vol. 1. pp. 685-690.
D.M. CRUDEN
Department of Civil Engineering
The University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alta.