Effect Of Rock Textures On Slope Stability: Experimental Study

Abstract

The research reported in this thesis focused on the effects of rock texture on the slope stability (open cast mines, quarries and slides of roads and rivers). Artificial rocks were made from cement, sands and basalt particles of different sizes in order to produce artificial rock differ in their textures. Three kinds of rock textures were designed to investigate the effects of the rock texture on the slope stability of benches at various angles of slope and various bench heights. Crushed basalt samples were collected from a basalt quarry in Sabaloga, these crushed basalt samples were classified to produce three sizes coarse, medium, and fine which were used to produce coarse, medium and fine artificial rock textures. It was found that the benches would be more stable at grains having sizes less than 5 mm for slope angle less than 75 degree. But when the grain sizes coarser than 5 mm, the benches would not be stable at this angle as a result of both tension and shear stresses depending on the bench height. The relationships between the failure loads and grain sizes yielded second order equations which are shown graphically as curves.