Measurement and interpretation of long-term deformation of a rock slope at the Ikura limestone quarry, Japan

More than 10 years of displacement measurements at the Ikura limestone quarry in Japan have clarified aspects of rock slope deformation arising from excavation in the quarry. Although the cause of most deformations can be explained theoretically, those occurring in a rock slope just behind the Tarumi working face proved perplexing. Contraction continued to occur on the rock slope although excavation of limestone had ceased at this face. The cause of this continuous deformation was evaluated through numerical analysis employed to assess the stability of the rock slope. An automatic 3D mesh generation technique was used to model the complex topography of the quarry resulting from the excavation and a finite element mesh model was rendered for each of the successive excavation stages. Elastic analysis then allowed the resulting rock slope deformation to be predicted. The calculated results reveal that the rock slope continued to deform elastically after excavation had ceased on the Tarumi face and that the on-going excavation at the Kawamukai working face, located 400 m away from the rock slope, was the probable cause. The calculated results using appropriate elastic moduli were in good agreement with measured results. The rock slopes are assessed as stable and the continuous deformation is believed to be elastic.