Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference (RIC 2023)

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An Overview of Recent Advancement in the Three-Dimensional Limit Equilibrium Method and Its Implication on Slope Stability Analysis for Iron Ore Mining

Authors
Wensong Zhang1, *, Jan Janse Rensburg1
1Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Perth, WA, Australia
*Corresponding author. Email: wensong.zhang@riotinto.com
Corresponding Author
Wensong Zhang
Available Online 8 November 2023.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-258-3_41How to use a DOI?
Keywords
3D LEM; slope stability analysis; open pit; iron ore mining
Abstract

With rapidly advancing computational technologies and more accessible high-performance computing machines in the past decade, the three-dimensional limit equilibrium (3D LE) method has become increasingly popular in the assessment of open pit slope stabilities. Unlike the Finite Difference (FD) and Finite Element (FE) methods, the accuracy of the LE method has significant reliance on its ability to accurately predict the shape (i.e., form) of the potential failure surface(s). Three recently proposed 3D slip surface searching algorithms and formulations were first discussed in this paper. Their effectiveness in facilitating more robust slope stability analyses were investigated with case examples that represent both rockmass and structurally controlled slopes from iron ore mines within the Pilbara region of Western Australia. By means of local surface optimisation, the surface-altering optimisation (SAO) algorithm was found to be highly effective in predicting slip surfaces of lower factor of safety (FoS). The multi-modal optimisation (MMO) algorithm was also proven useful in capturing multiple potential instability zones. Despite being able to provide more realistic predictions of the geometry and extent of the potential instabilities when performed in conjunction with SAO and MMO, the robustness of the new spline global surface search formulation could not be fully verified by the pit examples analysed in this study.

Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference (RIC 2023)
Series
Atlantis Highlights in Engineering
Publication Date
8 November 2023
ISBN
978-94-6463-258-3
ISSN
2589-4943
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-258-3_41How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Wensong Zhang
AU  - Jan Janse Rensburg
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/11/08
TI  - An Overview of Recent Advancement in the Three-Dimensional Limit Equilibrium Method and Its Implication on Slope Stability Analysis for Iron Ore Mining
BT  - Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference  (RIC 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 407
EP  - 421
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-258-3_41
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-258-3_41
ID  - Zhang2023
ER  -