A study of the mechanism of flexural toppling failure of rock slopes

The mechanism of flexural toppling failure of jointed rock slopes has been investigated through a series of centrifuge experiments conducted on models manufactured from two types of materials (brittle: a sand-gypsum mixture; and ductile: fibre-cement sheeting). The basal failure plane observed in the centrifuge models, has been found to emanate from the toe of the slope, and orient at an angle of 12 to 20 degrees upward from the normal to the discontinuities. A theoretical model based on a limiting equilibrium approach (Aydan and Kawamoto, 1992) has been adopted to analyse the centrifuge test data. After calibration, the model was found to accurately predict the failure load for all the tests reported in this study. Using this model, a set of charts has been prepared to assist with the analysis of slopes susceptible to flexural toppling.