Effects of geometrical and geomechanical properties on slope stability of open-pit mines using 2D and 3D finite difference methods

Slope stability analysis is one of the most important problems in mining and geotechnical engineering. Ignoring the importance of these problems can lead to significant losses. Selecting an appropriate method to analyze the slope stability requires a proper understanding of how different factors influence the outputs of the analyses. This paper evaluates the effects of considering the real geometry, changes in the mesh size, and steepness of the slope, as the dimensional effects, and changes in the geomechanical parameters, as the media effects on the global slope stability of an open-pit mine using finite difference methods with a strength reduction technique. The case study is the Tectonic Block I in the old pit (steep slope) and the redesigned new pit (gentle slope) of the Choghart iron mine. In the first step, a series of 2D and 3D slope stability analyses are performed and compared in terms of safety and potential failure surface. The results obtained show that by considering the real geometry of the slope, the FOS3D/FOS2D ratio (3D-effect) is more than 1 in the all cases. The 3D-effect in the new pit is smaller than that in the old one. In the next step, sensitivity analysis of the cohesion and the friction angle is performed for the 2D and 3D analyses. The results obtained show that the sensitivity of the analyses in terms of the 3D-effect to the change in the friction angle, especially in a low-friction angle, is more significant than that to the change in the cohesion.