Comparison of limit-equilibrium, numerical and physical models of wall slope stability

We review commonly observed failure mechanisms associated with footwall slopes, and examine the basic concepts underlying the limit equilibrium approach assessing footwall slope stability. The failure mechanisms described are those, where failure follows pre-existing joints or occurs in intact rock, namely, fully and partially joint-controlled bilinear and ploughing slab failures. Numerical models implemented using UDEC illustrate the code’s potential for analysing these failure mechanisms. Physical models representing the studied instability mechanisms were studied in a tilt-test set-up in the laboratory, with the empirical results comparing fairly well with the theoretical approaches.