A case study is presented that relates statistical descriptions of joint sets to the distribution of local wedge failures along the crest of a catch bench at the Yellowstone Talc Mine. The fracture sets and bench width were mapped by teams of geological engineering ...

The point estimation method can be applied to the safety factor (SF) equation for any specified rock slope failure mode (such as plane shear, step path, or wedge) to obtain reliable estimates of the mean and standard deviation of the SF probability distribution ...

A computer analysis of bench stability has been developed to account for multiple occurrences of potentialslope-failure modes in discontinuous rock masses. Bench-scale plane shears and tetrahedral wedges are simulated and stochastically analyzed to estimate ...