Volume 2, Issue 4, July - December, 2025

Analysis of geotechnical characteristics of open pit rock masses implementing structural discontinuities in the limit equilibrium method

Maged Al Mandalawi^1♦, Yasmine Sabry²

¹Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University Australia, Vic, Australia
²Al-Faisal College, Auburn, NSW, Australia

^♦Corresponding Author
Maged Al Mandalawi, Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University Australia, Vic, Australia

ABSTRACT

This approach aims to review the structurally controlled instability in the general limit equilibrium method. The fundamental shortage of the finite element technique that simply used static calculations, and does not include discontinuities in the rock mass and treating the rock mass as a continuum. This practical application can overcome the limit of the conventional limit equilibrium method by explicitly including joints and bedding into this method. Rocks are typically anisotropic, and the slope in this study is heterogeneous with joints and faults strike parallel to the orientation in the west wall of Handlebar open pit in Australia. Despite this difficulty, further technique of anisotropic rock mass strength studied to develop the possibility of including joints in the rock slope to evaluate the stability by using the limit equilibrium method LEM. The directional effect of weak structures in a rock mass is typically defined by comparing the results of two sets of strength analyses that govern the two primary failure mechanisms. The first scenario is controlled by two joint sets. The second scenario is controlled by a single dominant bedding plane dips sub–parallel to the slope and one set of joints. The two scenarios represent different geological models, and therefore require rock slope stability analysis methods to determine the critical failure mode. The finding of the analyses shows that the frictional anisotropy influences the location and the scale of the critical slip surface. The dip angle of an apparent structure such as a joint, bedding plane, or fault is often cited as a critical factor controlling the initiation of a rock slope failure surface. This is because the dip angle determines the relationship between the discontinuity and the slope face, directly influencing the shear stress and resistance along the potential failure plane.

Keywords: Slope stability analysis, directional and anisotropic strengths, factor of safety and the limit equilibrium method

Discovery Nature, 2025, 2(4), e15dn3149

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v2i4.e15dn3149

Published: 16 December 2025