Rock Slopes: Stabilization Strategies, Seismic Design, and Risk Management

Stabilization of rock slopes involves application of well-developed technical solutions such as limit equilibrium analysis to calculate factors of safety. Selection of appropriate factors of safety depends on site conditions such as geology, hydrology, seismicity and climate, and the experience and judgement of the designer. This experience and judgement can be quantified by the use of reliability analysis to incorporate the uncertainty in the design parameters. In addition, Risk Management can be used to calculate a Risk Score in which the probability of event occurrence, such as slope instability, is combined with the consequence of instability, such as delays to traffic. An acceptable Risk Score can be achieved by reducing the probability of occurrence, by installing rock bolts, and/or changing the consequence, by for example, controlling traffic usage.

Dr. Duncan Wyllie, P.Eng.
President, Wyllie & Norrish Rock Engineers

In this webinar, local BC projects and some US projects will be discussed with emphasis on practical application of well-developed theoretical principles. This webinar will reference Rock Slope Engineering, 5th Edition, by Dr. Duncan C. Wyllie.

In this session, we will cover:

• Rock Slope Stabilization: reinforcement, removal and/or protection;
• Blasting: production blasting, final wall blasting, and damage control; and
• Seismic stability of slopes.

Target Audience

Geotechnical engineers and geoscientists with a particular interest in rock mechanics

Speaker

Dr. Duncan C. Wyllie, P.Eng.

President, Wyllie & Norrish Rock Engineers

Duncan C. Wyllie is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, the University of New South Wales, Australia and the University of London, and has a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in Canada. He specializes in rock engineering and has worked in this field for nearly 50 years. During this time, he has been involved in a wide variety of railway, highway and industrial development projects in North and South America, Asia and the Middle East. Typical assignments include the design and construction of slopes and tunnels, foundations of bridges and dams, and the study of landslides. On many of these projects, the design and evaluation of blasting procedures was an important part of the work.

One of Duncan’s specialities is the assessment of rock fall hazards, and the design and implementation of remedial measures; he carried out the initial development of a widely-used hazard rating system for highways in mountainous terrain. He has also worked in the mining industry in the design of open pit slopes, underground support, and tailings dams.

Duncan has lectured widely, conducted training courses in rock slope engineering, and has written a number of textbooks on rock mechanics. He is the author of the books Foundations on Rock (1992 and 1999 editions), Rock Slope Engineering (5th edition, 2017), Rock Fall Engineering (2014), and is a co-author of Landslides – Investigation and Mitigation (Transportation Research Board, 1996).