Rock Slope Stability Study for Yujian River Dam Site Based on Kinematic Analyses
Lithological information, rock mass fracture data and discontinuity shear strength obtained through field investigations have been used in conducting kinematic analyses for the rock slopes that exist in the Yujian River dam site to evaluate the stability of the slopes. Results given in the paper can be considered as conservative because of several conservative assumptions used in the analyses. Dam site slopes seem quite stable up to 40º dip angle. Out of the three basic failure modes, possible wedge sliding seems to be the most likely one followed up with possible plane sliding as the second. Irrespective of the considered slope regions, slope dip direction ranges 270-315º and 200-210º seem to be the worst cases for possible instability of slopes in the dam site. Regional slopes in the dam site can be ranked with respect to safety from the lowest to highest in the following order: R-c-1, R-e-2, R-c-2, R-d-1, R-b, R-a, R-d-2 and R-e-1. Note that the dam site slopes are currently stable and the existing slope angles agree well with the results obtained from the rock slope stability analyses.