EFFECT OF ROCK TEXTURE ON SLOPE STABILITY

The research reported in this article focused on the effect of rock texture on the slope stability in
open cast mines Physical models were made from cement, sands, basalt particles of different sizes
in order to produce artificial rock differing in their texture.
Three kinds of rock textures were yielded. They are coarse, medium and fme texture. The bench
height, berm and the angle of slope were also varied to study the effects of rock texture on the
stability of open cast bench slope having coarse texture grains larger than 5mm. It was found that
the benches of rock which will be only stable when the height of bench is equal or less than 1.4
times its berm and the slope angle less than 75 degree.
Failures will occur at slope angle near 90 degree as result of both tension and shear stresses. No
failure would occur for rock having fme texture, with the medium texture rocks the failure will