ABSTRACT
Fundamentally, rock support for rock slopes may only be in the form of retaining walls, which have only a tiny effect on ordinary rock slopes. Although shotcrete with/without wire mesh or fibers is often used, the structural effect of shotcrete is fundamentally almost nil. However, shotcrete does prevent the deterioration of rock, the detachment of small blocks, and internal erosion due to atmospheric agents and seepage in the long term, so its effect can be tremendous.
When piles of various types and rockbolts and rock anchors pass through the potential failure plane, they may be viewed as reinforcement. The emphasis in this chapter is given to reinforcement members, such as rockbolts and rockanchors.
Most formulations are similar to those presented for underground structures. Nevertheless, reinforcement and support effects are described with the consideration of common modes of failure of rock slopes such as planar/wedge sliding, flexural or block toppling failure and buckling failure. The methods are fundamentally based on limit equilibrium methods (LEM), and this chapter provides examples of analyses utilizing LEM, the finite element method, and the discrete finite element method (DFEM) incorporating Aydan’s rockbolt element.
