Stability Analysis Method for Rock Slope with an Irregular Shear Plane Based on Interface Model

Landslide developed in rock mass usually has irregular shear plane. An approach for calculating distributed factor of safety of the irregular shear plane was put forward in this paper. The presented method can obtain not only the detailed stability status at any grid node of a complex shear plane but also the global safety of the slope. Thus, it is helpful to thoroughly understand the mechanism of slope failure. Comparing with the result obtained through the limit equilibrium method, the presented method was proved to be more accurate and suitable for stability analysis of rock slope with a thin shear plane. The stability of a potentially unstable rock slope was analyzed based on the presented method at the end of this paper. The detailed local stability, global stability, and the potential failure mechanism were provided.