ABSTRACT
Rock slopes either occur naturally (Figure 6.1a) or are engineered by people as products of excavations to create space for buildings, highways and railway tracks, powerhouses, dams and mine pits (Figure 6.1b). The analysis for the estimation of stability of rock slopes has been a challenging task for engineers, especially under hydraulic and seismic conditions. In most civil and mining engineering projects, the main purpose of slope stability analysis is to contribute to the safe and economic design of rock slopes. This chapter describes the basic modes/mechanisms of rock slope failures and presents the fundamental concepts and methods of rock slope stability analysis. In field situations, many rock slopes are unstable, or they require an improvement in their stability. Such slopes need to be stabilised as per the specific needs of the project. Therefore, this chapter introduces some common rock slope stabilisation techniques.
