The stability of slopes and underground openings against flexural toppling and their stabilisation

Summary The stability of slopes and underground openings during and after excavation is always of great concern in the field of rock engineering. Depending upon the geologic conditions and material properties of rock and discontinuities, and the geometry of excavations and topography, various kinds of instabilities are likely to be encountered. One of these is the flexural toppling failure which has become to be known recently. A stability analysis method for slopes and underground openings under various loading conditions against the flexural toppling failure is proposed. In addition, for the stabilisation of structures, a method is suggested to take into account the reinforcement effect of fully grouted rockbolts. The applicability and validity of the proposed method is checked through model tests carried out in laboratory under well controlled conditions.