An Investigation of the Limit Equilibrium Method and Numerical Modeling for Rock Slope Stability Analysis

摘要

The following paper presents a review of the methods used to model large scale rocks in practice. The objective of the work is to create a resource available to geotechnical engineers pertaining to recent results, common programs used in practice, method limitations and recommendations for future use and research of modeling programs. The following methods are included: (1) the distinct element method (discontinuum) using Itasca's Universal Discrete Element Code, UDEC; (2) the finite difference method (continuum) using Itasca's Fast LaGrangian Analysis of Continua, FLAC; and (3) the limit equilibrium method using Geostudios: SlopeW. From the investigations and literature performed within this paper, the intention was to present studies within the past decade and increase confidence within engineers when utilizing numerical models.