Discontinued Rock Slope Analysis through a New TFS-KGM Analytical Method

Abstract

Slope stability analysis of jointed rocks has been the focus of many studies. The presence of joints and discontinuities in rock environments intensifies instability along with the development of block movements. Many analytical and numerical methods have been proposed and applied to analyze the stability of jointed rock slopes. Computation complexity, incapability of presenting a reliable safety factor to be used for developing a proper design operation and improper analysis speed are the known challenges of these methods. This paper has developed the well-known analytical Key Group Method (KGM) to Toppling-Free fall-Sliding Key Group (TFS_KGM) version. To this end, toppling and free fall failure are added to the existing method in order to have a better analysis of jointed rock slopes. In this method, unstable key blocks participate in creating groups which may rotate or free fall besides sliding. The new TFS_KGM computes stability conditions and final safety factors based on the most unstable sliding, rotating and free fall movements with consideration of in situ stresses. Results of using this method in jointed rock slopes and the comparison with DEM numerical, KBM and KGM analytical methods show that the method is very effective particularly when the geometrical conditions of the jointed rocks make the toppling and free fall failures potentially possible. The method demonstrates a simple computation method along with a proper analysis speed. It also provides accurate design safety factors and much more optimized critical failure areas than previous methods.