Experimental study on the whole failure process of anti-dip rock slopes subjected to external loading

An experimental system, which consists of a digital camera and a loading system, is designed to investigate the failure mechanism of anti-dip rock slopes subjected to external loading. The modeling material is made by mixing sand, plaster, barite, glycerin, and water at a mass ratio of 44.4:30:22.5:2:32. Fine sand is evenly filled between the rock layers to simulate the joints of the anti-dip rock slopes. Anti-dip rock slope models with joint angles of 45°, 55°, 65°, and 75° are poured in the experiment. The complete load–displacement curves of the anti-dip rock slopes subjected to external loading are obtained to investigate the effects of the joint angle on the ultimate bearing capacities of the slopes. Based on the images captured by the digital camera under the high-speed shooting mode, the whole failure process of the anti-dip rock slopes is analyzed, including the crack evolution. Moreover, an image processing technique is proposed to capture the displacement vector diagrams of anti-dip rock slopes and the real-time deformation behavior of anti-dip rock slopes is investigated. The ultimate failure modes of the anti-dip rock slopes with different joint angles are discussed in detail. The sliding body is separated from the slope along the datum plane, which is always perpendicular to the slope joints. Failures occur at the top of the anti-dip rock slopes (near the external loading), while the bottom of the slopes remain intact. Based on the experimental results, the failure mechanism of the sliding blocks in the anti-dip rock slopes is revealed. The experimental results can be expected to assess the failure mode of anti-dip rock slopes subjected to external loading.