Application of the numerical manifold method to model progressive failure in rock slopes

The present study develops the numerical manifold method as a tool to investigate the progressive failure in rock slopes. The entire processes of the progressive slide surface development related to crack initiation, propagation, coalescence and degradation to eventual catastrophic failure are successfully captured. To overcome the limitation of the original NMM associated with an improper removal of the interface cohesion of the discontinuities, the displacement-dependent cohesion removal method is adopted. Simple examples of failure of rock slopes containing different arrangements of discontinuities are modeled and their results are compared with those based on the popular limit equilibrium method proposed by famous pioneers Jennings (1970) [1] and Jaeger (1971) [2]. The present results illustrate that the types of crack propagation and coalescence obtained by the developed NMM can help explain the relevant cracking processes in nature and experimental studies.