The dynamic response and stability of rock slopes during earthquakes are of great concern in rock engineering works such as highway, dam and nuclear power plant constructions. The main objectives of the study are to investigate the dynamic response of slopes and likely forms of instability of the slopes in relation to the number and orientation of discontinuity sets with respect to the slope geometry under various kinds of acceleration waves. The dynamic response of the model slopes were measured using accelerometers installed at various points in the slope. In the tests, various parameters such as the effect of the frequency and the amplitude of input acceleration waves are investigated in relation to discontinuity patterns and their inclinations and the slope geometry. Finally, the model slopes were forced to fail by increasing the amplitude of input acceleration waves and the forms of instability were investigated. In this study, the authors describe the results of the model tests on the dynamic response and stability of rock slopes and discuss their implications.
The dynamic response and the stability of rock slopes associated with rock engineering works such as highway, dam and nuclear power plant constructions during earthquakes are of great concern. Fig. 1 shows some slope failure examples observed during recent earthquakes (e.g. Aydan 2016). As rock masses in nature generally have discontinuities due to various physical, chemical phenomena they underwent in the geologic past, there is a need to take into account the discontinuous nature of rock masses for evaluating the dynamic response and the stability of rock slopes.
An experimental study was undertaken to investigate the stability of rock-cut excavations during earthquakes. The main objectives of the study were to investigate the dynamic response and instability modes of the rock slopes in relation to the number and orientation of discontinuity sets with respect to the slope geometry under various kinds of acceleration waves. Blocks with two kinds of materials are used. The blocks with unbreakable material was intended to study the effects of disontinuities while the breakable blocks were intended to study the effect of block failure on the response and stability of discontinuous rock slopes. The results obtained from these experimental study on model rock slopes with various discontinuity sets are presented and discussed.
