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Influence of counter-tilted failure surface angle on the stability of rock slopes subjected to block toppling failure mechanisms

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Abstract

In rock slopes where sedimentary rock masses dip into the face of the slope, failure may occur by block toppling. In traditional analytical models, the failure surface is assumed to be a single plane running from the upper columns to the toe of the slopes, which may be inconsistent with the physical situation, where the weak plane has undergone counter-tilting within the rock slope due to variations of lithology and weak plane characteristics. To better reflect the physical situations, the failure surfaces ought to be determined instead of basing it on assumptions and incorporated in the existing analytical methods for stability analyses. Therefore, a searching technique for determining the counter-tilted failure surface angle has been proposed and traditional analytical models for evaluating the stability of rock slopes subjected to block toppling failure mechanisms have been modified by incorporating the counter-tilted weak plane angle. The physical slope with counter-tilted failure surface was comprehensively analyzed using the modified analytical model and the results were validated using numerical simulation models. The simulated failure mode zones are consistent with the failure mode zones obtained by the modified analytical method. The influence of relative angles of the counter-tilted failure surface on the slope stability has been studied and the results show that progressive increase of the counter-tilted failure surface angles lead to a gradual increase in slope instability. The proposed analytical method could provide precise applications to evaluate the slope instability in rock slopes with counter-tilted failure surface.

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks go to the Natural Science Foundation of China for their financial support with project no. 51374163 and for the expertise and comments from the reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Victor Mwango Bowa & Yuanyou Xia

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  1. Victor Mwango Bowa
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  2. Yuanyou Xia
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Correspondence to Victor Mwango Bowa.

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Bowa, V.M., Xia, Y. Influence of counter-tilted failure surface angle on the stability of rock slopes subjected to block toppling failure mechanisms. Bull Eng Geol Environ 78, 2535–2550 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-018-1253-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-018-1253-2

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