Rock slope failures usually occur along the structural
discontinuities in rock masses, but for weathered and highly
jointed rock masses, failure surfaces are often curved as in soil
slopes.
This paper is concerned with stability analysis of weath
ered and
highly jointed rock slope using shear strength reduction technique by FLAC program, which uses finite difference method.
This paper presents a stability analysis of a rock slope in Khneifees
mines in Syrian desert, to verify that it is safe for workers and
equipments to work beside it, and manipulates the result charts
of FLAC analysis using finite difference method and shear strength
reduction technique to assess the stability of the rock slope,
determine the safety factor of the rock slope and expect failure
mechanism.
In this research, site investigations and tests were performed in
Khneifees phosphate mine. Samples of the studied rocks were
brought to the laboratory and tests were performed. The types of
these rocks are clayey limestone, organic limestone, white and gray
trepolite, opoka, chert and phosphate.The tests were performed
according to "American Standards for Testing of Materials"
(ASTM), and the recommendations of "International Society for
Rock Mechanics" (ISRM).
