Rock mass analyses

Overview

Rock mass stability analyses examine the potential for inter-ramp and overall slope
failures where the failure mechanisms are controlled by the strength of the rock mass.
They are an essential final step in the design process, to check that there are no fatal
flaws in the inter-ramp slopes selected by the kinematic analysis process and that the
rock mass can sustain the proposed design over the full height of the slope.

Analysis of rock mass controlled failures commenced in the 1950s and 1960s and was
based on soil mechanics experience and methodology. The analyses incorporated
fundamental assumptions of scale and discontinuity density, for example that the size of
rock particles in high, closely jointed rock masses were considered equivalent to an
isotropic mass of soil particles. This assumption enabled slope design practitioners to
adopt the Mohr-Coulomb measures of friction (Ø) and cohesion (c) to represent the
strength of the rock mass. This led to the direct use of the emerging limit equilibrium slope
failure analyses such as Bishop, Janbu, Morgenstern and Price and Spencer in slope
design, and the embedment of Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters in the limit equilibrium
stability chart procedures introduced in the 1970s and 1980s. The use of Mohr-Coulomb
strength parameters was also carried over into all the continuum and discontinuum
numerical modelling tools now common in pit slope design.

Limit equilibrium and numerical modelling slope design tools that use the Mohr-Coulomb
criterion to represent the strength of the rock mass are all used today at some stage of
project development. Regrettably, even a cursory examination of the literature reveals
that it is overflowing with articles addressing the perceived advantages, idiosyncrasies
and limitations of these tools, a situation that is often more confusing than helpful. This
section will attempt to cut through this excess of information and concisely review the
background to each method, how it is used, when it should be used and, equally
importantly, when it should not be used. It will also examine current research trends and
developments aimed at closing the critical gaps in our understanding of rock mass failure
in large open pits.