Analysis of large scale rock slopes

Sammanfattning: The objective of this work was to (1) increase the knowledge of the behavior of large scale rock slopes, (2) improve the ability to estimate rock mass strength for such slopes, and (3) develop an improved design methodology for forward design of large scale slopes in open pit mining. A fourth objective included the application of the results to the Aitik open pit in northern Sweden. A large number of case studies were collected into a database and empirical design guidelines were developed. A procedure for determining the strength of large scale slopes was developed, based on the Hoek-Brown failure criterion. Failure mechanisms of high slopes were studied using numerical modeling. The procedure for strength estimation and the modeling methodology, were applied to selected case studies-this enabled verification of the design methodology. Finally, the design methodology was applied to the Aitik open pit mine, and slope design recommendations given.