ABSTRACT
Finite element method as an advanced numerical technique has been used widely for modeling jointed rock mass, where both joint and intact rock would be modeled explicitly. One of the major challenges that is associated with this approach is conforming the mesh with the joints in complex geometries. As a solution, extended finite element method (XFEM) is introduced to trace the discontinuities implicitly where the discretization of the domain is independent of joints. In this paper, we expanded the application of XFEM in jointed rock slopes for any number of discontinuities in the domain and discussed the factors that can affect numerical instability in analysis.
