Methodological improvement of approaches to slope stability analysis for open pits in difficult geological conditions

The slope stability analysis is carried out in open pits on the present-day development level of the mining industry. The high-use methods of slope stability estimation in open pits are compared, namely, the limit equilibrium method and numerical modeling, mostly, the finite element method. The exigence of modification of the existing approaches and development of new methods is substantiated, to integrate detailed studies of structural damage of rock mass, its stress–state analysis and different failure mechanisms. This article offers an integral approach of combining the Generalized Hoek–Brown Criterion with the Morgenstern–Price method. The Hoek Brown criterion with the GSI and D indexes ensures transition from the laboratory-scale strength properties of rocks to the characteristics of jointing of rock mass with regard to its structural damage, scale factor and mining impact. The Morgenstern–Price method allows the most rigorous search for the safety factor at the simultaneous fulfillment of the force and momentum equilibrium conditions. Modification of the existing methodological approaches to slope stability in open pit mines is a mandatory requirement of safety and economic efficiency of mineral mining under increasingly more difficult geological conditions at greater depths. 

Onishchenko M. K., Gospodarikov A. P. Methodological improvement of approaches to slope stability analysis for open pits in difficult geological conditions. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2026;(7):68-89. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2026_7_0_68.

M.K. Onishchenko¹, Graduate Student, e-mail: mariaonishchenko28@gmail.com, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2292-5202,
A.P. Gospodarikov¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, e-mail: kafmatem@spmi.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1018-6841,
¹ Empress Catherine II Saint-Petersburg Mining University, 199106, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

M.K. Onishchenko, e-mail: mariaonishchenko28@gmail.com.

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