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This document describes methods of assessing the potential for wedge sliding instability,
using stereonet kinematic analysis.
1. The traditional approach has been to consider the orientation of the intersection
line of two planes.
2. An alternative approach considers the normal to the intersection line (wedge
pole method).
Wedge versus Planar sliding
Kinematic wedge sliding and planar sliding analyses using a stereonet are fundamentally
very similar. Planar sliding is sometimes considered a special case of wedge sliding, or
vice versa.
One difference between planar and wedge sliding analyses, is that for wedge sliding
analysis, it is not necessary to consider lateral kinematic limits on the sliding direction
(i.e. the plus/minus 20 degree limits), as is done with pure planar sliding analysis.
This friction only analysis assumption allows a rough safety factor to be calculated (tan
theta / tan phi).
Figure 1: critical wedge sliding zone (slope plane = 65/180, friction angle = 30)
Wedge intersection lines which fall within the region indicated in Figure 1, represent
daylighting wedges which can slide (i.e. the wedge intersection line dips out of the slope,
and more steeply than the friction angle).
Because we are analyzing actual sliding directions (rather than poles), the friction circle
is defined with respect to the perimeter of the stereonet. This is defined by a cone (small
circle) with a vertical axis, and angular radius equal to 90 minus the friction angle. In the
above example, the friction angle = 30, so the cone angle = 90 30 = 60 degrees. The
orientation of the slope plane in the above example is 65/180.
Sliding along the line of intersection (i.e. sliding on both planes simultaneously)
Sliding along one wedge plane
The wedge sliding mode can be determined on a stereonet according to Hocking (1976).
Assuming an intersection line which daylights in the critical zone shown in Figure 1:
If the dip vector of one of the joint planes lies between the slope dip direction,
and the line of intersection trend, then the wedge will slide on one plane
If the dip vectors of both planes lie outside of this region, then sliding will be
along the line of intersection.
This could be offered as an optional analysis feature (i.e. show the wedge sliding mode
on the stereonet).
Another case should be considered: it is possible to have wedges where the line of
intersection dips LESS THAN the friction angle, but sliding can still take place on one
plane, if the dip vector of the plane falls within the critical zone of Figure 1. This is
shown in the following figure.
If the wedge intersection line falls in either of the yellow regions, AND
The dip vector of one plane falls in the red region.
Then wedge sliding can occur on the one plane. Basically, these are wedges where the
intersection line has a shallow dip, and strikes sub-parallel to the slope.
a larger number of uniformly distributed poles were analyzed, the regions would
correspond closely.)
If the dip direction of the intersection line = slope dip direction, then sliding will
occur along the line of intersection.
Conversely, if the dip vector of one plane has the same dip direction as the slope,
then sliding will take place on this plane.
In the special case you could have the same dip direction for the intersection line,
one plane and the slope, and sliding would be in the common direction of all
three.
The intersection point could be coincident with the dip vector of one plane, in
which case the wedge would slide along the line of intersection and the dip vector
of the plane simultaneously.
Other Notes
Plotting of upper face plane on stereonet (reduces the number of valid daylighting
intersection lines if the upper face has a non-zero dip angle).