Fundamentals of slope design

Keynote address at
Slope Stability 2009, Santiago, Chile, 9 - 11 November 2009. — 26 p.
Details from www.slopestability.clE. Hoek
203 – 2300 Capilano Crescent
North Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada, V7R 4H7
ehoek@mailas.comThe management of the slopes in an open pit mine depends, amongst other things, upon the assessment of the stability of these slopes. The recognition and analysis of the different modes of failure are the main issues that will be addressed in this paper on the fundamentals of slope design. A critical component of any stability analysis is estimation of the strength of the rock mass and the discontinuities which control sliding and this issue will be discussed in some detail. Other topics, such as the creation of reliable geological and groundwater models and the assessment of risk and economic factors, will be dealt with by other speakers at this Symposium and in the Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design.Abstract
Introduction
Methods of slope analysis
Estimation of rock mass properties
Modelling the behaviour of discontinuous rock masses
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References