ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 discusses the importance of structural geology to slope stability, and how stereonets can be used to analyse the orientation of discontinuities in terms of pole and great circle plots, and location of lines of intersection; details of stereonets are provided in Appendix I. Kinematic analysis involves the identification of modes of instability – planar, wedge and toppling failures – based on discontinuity orientation relative to the face, and incorporation of the friction angle into the analysis to assess stability conditions. Example problems are included.
