Chart-based slope stability assessment using the Generalized Hoek-Brown criterion

We present new stability charts for the analysis of rock mass slopes satisfying the Generalized Hoek-Brown (GHB) criterion. Firstly, charts for calculating the factor of safety (FOS) of a slope for a specified slope angle beta=45 degrees are proposed. Secondly, a disturbance weighting factor f(D) is introduced to illustrate the effect of disturbance factor D upon the stability of rock slopes. Thirdly, a slope angle weighting factor f(beta) is proposed to show the influence of slope angle beta on slope stability. Combined with stability charts based on beta=45 degrees, the weighting factors f(D) and f(beta) allow the calculation of the FOS of a slope assigned various slope angle under different blasting damage and stress relief conditions. The reliability of the proposed charts is tested against numerical solutions. The results show that FOS from the proposed charts exhibits only 3.1% average discrepancy from numerical solutions using 1680 sets of data. The proposed charts are simple and straightforward to use and can be adopted as useful tools for the preliminary rock slope stability analysis. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.