Stability of Rock Slopes-MI 473

Assignment

- Pratheek Bhat
201MN042

Introduction
Rock Slopes whether natural or man-made cracked in the process of
excavation. Any imbalance of these slopes may cause slope failure and may
fail in different modes depending on rock structures and the environment.
These failures may be gradual with prolonged movement, sliding mass/block,
or instantaneous with much indirection or warning.
The discontinuous nature of rock design of stable rock slopes is as much of an
art as it is applied in engineering.

Rock/Soil slopes are 2 types:

-Natural Slopes
- Man-made slopes

Foundations, buildings or dam sites, road cuts and cover tunneling, irrigation
ditches and channels, tailings dams, and mine waste or repositories are the
different places where this is applied

Landslides
● A landslide is defined as the movement of a mass of rock, debris, or
earth down a slope due to gravity.
● Multiple causes: Slope movement occurs when forces act down the
slope mainly due to gravity exceeding the strength of earth materials
that compose that slope
● May be triggered by rainfall, snowmelt, changes in water level, stream
erosion, changes in groundwater, earthquakes, volcanic activity,
disturbance by human activities, or any combination of these factors.
● Landslides can move slowly or can move quickly disastrously as in the
case of debris flows
 ● Debris flow can travel down a (little) hillside at speeds up to 200 mts per
hour depending on the slope angle, water content, the volume of debris,
and the type of earth and debris inflows.
● The flows are initiated by heavy periods of rainfall but sometimes can
happen as a result of short bursts of concentrated rainfall or other
factors in susceptible areas.
● Burned areas charred by wildfires are particularly susceptible to debris
flows given certain soil characteristics and slope conditions.
● Landslides are a serious geologic hazard. It is estimated that in the US
they cause over $1 Billion in damage and about 25.50 debris each year.
● Globally landslides cause billions of dollars in damages and thousands
of deaths and injuries each year.

Slope Failures
Bingham Canyon Copper Mine Slope Failure:
Bingham Canyon, 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, has been mined since
1906. The mine has produced more copper than any mine in history. At peak
production, it contributed to 25% of total US copper production.
Usually, there will be some triggering factors that are responsible for the
failure. These are:-
- Increase of seepage pressure due to buildup of hydrostatic pressure in
joints/tension cracks.
- Due to excavation in slope for material.

Socio-economic consequences of slope failure:

Slope failure in mines can result in
- Fatality
- Accidents
- Loss of Production
- Cost of removal of failed materials
- Possible loss of ore reserves if it is not possible to mine it to its full
depth

Why slope design is required in mines?

The primary purpose of slope design is to contribute to the safety of men and
machinery, economic designs, and excavations.

Open pit mining slope stability

3 Main components of open pit slope design:-

- The Pit Slope Angle from the crest to the depth, incorporates all ramps
and benches. This may be a composite slope with a flatter slope in
weaker, surficial materials and a steeper slope in more competent racks
at depths. In addition, the slope angle may vary around the pit to
accommodate both differing geology and layout of the ramp.
- INterramp angle is the slope or slopes lying with each ramp that will
depend pn no of ramps and their width
- Face angle of individual benches or combined multiple benches and
width of benches required to contain minor rock falls.

Types of slope failures

- Plane failure
- Wedge failure
- Circular failure
- Toppling failure

Factors governing rock slope design:

- Slope geometry
- Geologic Structure
- Lithology
- Groundwater
- Mining Method
- Time
- Presence of old working areas

Plane failure:-
Occurs if the joint plane dips into the excavation forming a well-defined work
plane
General Condition:
- The plane on which sliding occurs must strike parallel or nearly parallel
to the face
- Failure plane must “daylight” in slope face. This means its dip must be
smaller than the dip of the slope face
- The dip of the failure plane must be greater than the angle of friction of
the plane
- Release surface which provides negligible resistance to sliding must be
present in the rock mass to define the latera; boundaries of the slide.
Alternatively, failure can occur on a failure plane passing through the
convex nose of the slope.