Safety Factor on Rock Slopes with Tensile Cracks Using Numerical and Limit Equilibrium Models

Abstract

Through the research it describes an analytic methodology, which allows to determine the minimum safety factor depending on the depth of tensile crack and the inclination of surface failure on the most critical condition, considering at the same time, surcharge, seismic effect and water pressure. Therefore, it studies the stability of rock slopes considering that the potential of failure surface it is constituted by two blocks with different inclinations. The superior block is limited by a tensile crack that is represented by a fracture without displacement. On the other hand, on the inferior block, geometry is formed by a potential slide plane of α inclination with the horizontal axis, in which are acting shear stresses. Fracture on superior block is characterized by a normal-tensile stresses field that act over the crack whose presence originates when the rock loses its original cohesion. Finally, comparisons are made through examples with the limit equilibrium method and finite elements method, where it determines the safety factor on dry state, water and seism, being all of them too similar. Besides, the methodology compares the track depth and the distance between the intersection point of tensile crack and the edge of the slope face, results shows that the analytic methodology is very conservative and throws the less values of this distances.