IDENTIFICATION OF SLIDING ROCK BLOCK AND STABILITY OF DISCONTINUOUS ROCK MASS

Abstract

The three dimensional geometry of the planes of separation sitting inside a discontinuous rock mass is of primary importance in analysing the stability of the rock slope consisting of ground surface and discontinuity in the rock mass. This paper proposes a method to handle such geometrical problem by dividing the rock slope into a number of small cubes. The location of the planes of discontinuity is also put into a computer by using a certain set of indices allocated to each of the cubes. The equilibrium of the forces acting on a block of rock which may possibly slide during/after construction work is then calculated in the computer following a proposed procedure. The proposed method of rock block identification and stability analysis is then applied to a case history of an actual slide of a rock mass caused by cutting of a slope. The result indicates that the influence of the ground water level on the stability of a rock mass is in accordance with the stability of the rock mass monitored during the construction work.