While slope failures in open pit mines are mainly due to kinematic instability or shear stresses within the slope exceeding rock mass strength, the concept of foundation failure can prove useful in cases where ground profile anomalies occur.
This was the message from John Kwofie, a principal geotechnical engineer in SRK Consulting’s office in Ghana when he delivered a keynote address at the recent Rocscience Africa Conference 2022 in Accra. Kwofie noted that, over a span of a decade, he had encountered three instances where the cause of slope failure could not be determined using established, well-known methods.
“In these cases, slope stability analyses conducted on the slope design showed that the Factor of Safety was above the recommended minimum value,” he said. “At the same time, analyses of the orientations of geological structures did not point to any kinematic admissibility.”
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