441

ARTICLE
New method for dynamic stability analysis of rock slope under
blasting vibration based on equivalent acceleration and Sarma
method
Ming Chen, Wenbo Lu, Peng Yan, and Chuangbing Zhou
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Abstract: Dynamic stability of rock slopes under dynamic blasting disturbance and its analytic method are key problems in
slope engineering. Based on wave theory, the relationship between blasting vibration velocity, acceleration, and stress state of
slopes is studied. The results indicate that with the same blasting vibration velocity, peak stress of the slopes is identical. An
equivalent acceleration calculation method is proposed for the limit equilibrium analysis of rock slope stability under blasting
vibration. Considering the dynamic time-varying characteristics of the blasting vibration loading, a time-history method based
on the equivalent acceleration and the Sarma method of limit equilibrium analysis is then presented for the dynamic stability
analysis of rock slopes. On the basis of this new method, the high rock slopes on the left bank in the Jinping I Hydropower Station
are analyzed. Results of the case study derived from the new analytic method indicate that this new method is reasonable.

Key words: slope stability, blasting vibration, equivalent acceleration, Sarma method, safety factor.

Rsum : La stabilit dynamique de pentes rocheuses sous des perturbations dynamiques de dynamitage, de mme que la
mthode analytique approprie, demeurent un problme cl en ingnierie des pentes. Les relations entre la vitesse de la
vibration du dynamitage et entre lacclration et ltat des contraintes des pentes sont tudies selon la thorie des ondes. Les
For personal use only.

rsultats indiquent quavec la mme vitesse de vibration du dynamitage, la contrainte au pic des pentes est identique. Une
mthode de calcul de lacclration quivalente est propose pour lanalyse de lquilibre limite de la stabilit de pentes
rocheuses soumises a des vibrations de dynamitage. Ensuite, en considrant les caractristiques dynamiques variables selon le
temps des sollicitations en vibrations provenant par le dynamitage, une mthode de valeur en fonction du temps base sur
lacclration quivalente et la mthode Sarma de lanalyse de lquilibre limite est prsente pour lanalyse de la stabilit
dynamique de pentes rocheuses. Grce a cette nouvelle mthode, les grandes pentes rocheuses du anc gauche a la station
hydrolectrique de Jinping I sont analyses. Les rsultats de cette tude de cas obtenus par la nouvelle mthode analytique
indiquent que cette nouvelle mthode est raisonnable. [Traduit par la Rdaction]

Mots-cls : stabilit de pente, vibration de dynamitage, acclration quivalente, mthode Sarma, facteur de scurit.

Introduction seismic vibration and blasting vibration by using the quasi-static

The dynamic stability analysis of high rock slopes under blast-
ing vibration is a complex problem. It requires further research
on water resources and hydropower projects, mining projects,
and so on. At present, the rigid body limit equilibrium method,
the dynamic nite element method, and the discrete element
method are commonly used in the study of the high rock slope
dynamic stability under dynamic loading (Chen and Zhao 1998;
Esaki et al. 1998; Zhang et al. 2001; Hatzor et al. 2004; Gatmiri et al.
2007; Stolle and Guo 2008; Pal et al. 2012). In these methods, the
rigid body limit equilibrium analytic method has been playing an
important role and is widely used in the analysis of slope stability
because of its simple form. The method can directly give a quan-
titative parameter for slope status: the factor of safety. In studying
the dynamic stability of high rock slopes with the rigid body limit
equilibrium analytic method, the approach for calculating the
acceleration loading of blasting vibration is mainly the quasi-
static method.
The dynamic stability of high rock slopes under blasting vibra-
tion has been studied by many scholars using different methods.
Ling and Cheng (1997) evaluated the stability of rock slopes under
method. Kesimal et al. (2008) analyzed the dynamic stability of a
limestone quarry slope under blasting vibration by using the rigid
body limit based on the quasi-static method. Yang (1989) trans-
formed the blasting vibration dynamic loads into equivalent
static loads based on the Sarma method, and studied the dynamic
stability of high slopes during blasting excavation by using the
limit equilibrium analytic method. Zhang (1996) and Li and Zhang
(2007) reduced blasting vibration acceleration into static loads by
a factor, and then analyzed the stability of slopes by the quasi-
static method according to the limit equilibrium theory. Their
study indicates that in the limit equilibrium analysis, simplifying
the blasting vibration into equivalent static loads cannot ade-
quately yield the dynamic responses of slopes induced by the
blasting vibration loads. For example, the results of Dowding and
Gilbert (1988) indicate that the vibration frequency has a major
effect on slope stability. Based on the study of the dynamic stabil-
ity of high rock slopes under blasting vibration, the attenuation of
amplitude, spectrum characteristics, and phase angle variation of
the blasting vibration wave in the propagation process should be
considered comprehensively. Thus, some scholars (Lu et al. 1996;
Yan and Zhang 1996; Jiang 2002; Xu et al. 2006) attempted to

Received 18 December 2012. Accepted 16 December 2013.

M. Chen, W. Lu, P. Yan, and C. Zhou. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan,
Hubei 430072, China.
Corresponding author: Wenbo Lu (e-mail: wblu@whu.edu.cn).

Can. Geotech. J. 51: 441448 (2014) dx.doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2012-0475 Published at www.nrcresearchpress.com/cgj on 21 December 2013.
 442 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 51, 2014

integrate a variety of factors to evaluate the stability of slopes The displacement potential functions and of the Rayleigh
under blasting vibration loads. In this regard, Xu et al. (2006) surface wave are expressed as
proposed a time-history analysis method to calculate the safety
factor of rock high slope dynamic stability based on the Sarma (1) Aerzeik(xCRt)
method of the rigid body limit equilibrium analysis.
In this paper, on the basis of the wave theory, the relationship (2) Beszeik(xCRt)
between the blasting vibration frequency, the velocity, the accel-
eration, and the stress state of the slope is discussed, and then a
method of calculating the blasting vibration load in the analysis of where A and B are stands of the amplitude, k is the wave number,
the slope dynamic stability is proposed. Furthermore, based on CR is the Rayleigh wave velocity, CR = /k, is the circular fre-
quency of the wave, t is time, and r and s are expressed as follows:

the Sarma method of the limit equilibrium analysis, a new
method for dynamic stability analysis of rock slopes under blast-

ing vibration is introduced. The research ndings will lay a theo- CR 2
rk 1
retical foundation for inuencing the evaluation of blasting CP
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vibration on slope stability, and improvement and optimization (3)

of blasting excavation design of slopes. CR 2
sk 1
CS
Calculation method of equivalent acceleration
Slope response under Rayleigh wave where CP and CS are the P-wave velocity and S-wave velocity of
In this study, the effects of damping, faults, and joints of rocks geotechnical medium, respectively.
are not considered in the analytic process. CR is determined by the value of k in the Rayleigh Equation
Far away from the explosion source, the Rayleigh wave is the
main blasting seismic wave propagating on the slope surface.
The slope is simplied to be a free inclined surface. To consider
(4) 2k2 k2S2 4k2k2 kp2k2 ks2 0
the propagation of the Rayleigh wave in an elastic medium
with the condition of plane strain, a pair of nonuniform P-waves where kp and ks are the numbers of the longitudinal wave and
and SV-waves are assumed to propagate in the direction of x-axis transverse wave, respectively.
at the same velocity of CR, as shown in Fig. 1. The stress generated by the Rayleigh wave can be expressed as:
For personal use only.

(5)

xx A [r2 ( 2)k2] exp(rz)

zz A [( 2)r2 k2] exp(rz) 2
4srk2
k2 s2
4srk2
k s2

exp(sz) cos[k(x cRt)]

exp(sz) cos[k(x cRt)]
zx A[2rk exp(rz) 2kr exp(sz)] sin[k(x cRt)

where and are the Lame coefcients. With the same vibration velocity, the amplitude of the displace-
The values of the vibration displacement uz, the vibration veloc- ment potential function is inversely proportional to the square
ity vz, and the strain vibration az in the normal direction of the of the frequency. In the same slope, at the point B on the slope
slope caused by the Rayleigh wave can be expressed as: surface, the result is available by eqs. (5) and (9)

(6)
r
uz Ak erz 2
k
2rk sz
k s2
e cos(kx t) (10)
xx1
xx2
1

(7)
r
k
vz Ak erz 2
2kr sz
k s2
e sin(kx t) It can be seen that, with the same peak vibration velocity, the
peak stress in the direction of the x-axis at the same position of the
(8) az Ak2 kr erz

k s2
2
e cos(kx t)
2kr sz slope surface is the same.
On the surface of the rock slope, according to eqs. (6) to (8), the
relationship between the peak vibration displacement, the veloc-
ity, and the acceleration can be expressed as:
In the same slope, when elastic modulus, density, and Poisson
ratio are identical, the corresponding longitudinal wave velocity,
the transverse wave velocity, and the Rayleigh wave velocity are (11) az Ak2 vz uz2
also the same. Based on the assumption that two different waves
propagate in the slope, whose frequencies are f1 and f2, and the It shows that the peak displacement, the velocity, and the ac-
amplitudes of the displacement potential function are A1 and A2, celeration can be mutually converted by the circular frequency
respectively, the stresses in the direction of x-axis are xx1 and xx2, through their relationships.
respectively, with the same peak vibration velocity of vz at the
point B on the slope surface, the following formula can be yielded Analysis of the relationship between vibration parameters
by eq. (7). Parameters

The parameters of the left high rock slope of the Jinping I
A1 2 2 f2 2
(9) Hydropower Station are considered in the present study. The elastic
A2 1 f1 modulus is about 40 GPa, the density is 2600 kg/m3, the Poisson ratio

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 Chen et al.
Fig. 1. Diagram of calculation model.
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is 0.25, and the longitudinal, transverse, and Rayleigh wave velocities
are 4296.7, 2480.7, and 2280.8 m/s, respectively.
The particle vibration velocity is measured generally in blasting
monitoring. To discuss the effect of the vibration frequency, the
peak particle vibration velocity at the point B on the slope surface
is considered to be identical, but the frequency is different. In
general, the principal frequency of earthquakes ranges from 1 to
For personal use only.
5 Hz, while the principal frequency of blasting vibration varies
mainly in the range of 10100 Hz. For the sake of convenience,
three vibration frequencies of 1, 10, and 100 Hz are considered
separately. The distributions of the peak displacement, the parti-
cle vibration acceleration, and the stress are to be compared un-
der these three different vibration frequencies with the same
peak velocity. The peak vibration velocity of waves with the fre-
quencies of 1, 10, and 100 Hz are vz1, vz10, and vz100, respectively,
and they are equivalent, namely vz1 = vz10 = vz100. For the
Rayleigh wave whose frequency is 10 Hz, the amplitude A of
the displacement potential function is in the unit of 1 m2, and the
same particle vibration velocity can be obtained at point B on
the slope surface. According to eq. (11), it can be concluded that
when the frequencies are 1 and 100 Hz, the amplitude of the
Rayleigh displacement potential function is 100 and 1/100 m2, re-
spectively.
Analysis of calculation results
The analysis only takes the vibration displacement, velocity,
acceleration, and peak stress into account without considering
their cycle change. According to this analysis, the peak displace-
ment, velocity, acceleration, and stress are dependent on the dif-
ferent vibration frequencies of 1, 10, and 100 Hz.
The results indicate that when the peak particle vibration ve-
locity of the slope surface is identical, the peak displacement and
the acceleration induced by the waves with different frequencies
are different, and the peak vertical vibration displacement is in-
versely proportional to the vibration frequency, while the peak
vertical vibration acceleration is proportional to the vibration
frequency. But while the peak stress of the slope is identical, the
peak value occurs at slightly different positions. When the main
vibration frequency is higher, the peak vibration displacement,
velocity, acceleration, and stress in the direction of the x-axis and
z-axis will increase or attenuate faster along the depth of the
slope. The relationship between the peak stress in the direction of
the z-axis and the depth is shown in Fig. 2. It can be found that for
the three frequencies, when the vibration velocity is the same, the
stress waves induce the same peak stress in the slope, the position
of the peak stress gradually shifts from the surface layer rock into
443
the deep layer rock of the slope, and the value of stress changes
more slowly with lower frequency. The relationship between the
normal peak velocity and the depth is shown in Fig. 3. It can be
found that the peak particle velocity of the slope surface is the
same, but the higher frequency is, the faster the vibration velocity
attenuates in the depth direction of the slope. When the fre-
quency is 100 Hz, the vibration velocity at 50 m below the slope
surface attenuates to less than 1% of that of the surface. While the
frequency is 1 Hz, the vibration velocity at 700 m below the slope
surface attenuates to about 90% of that of the surface.
From the analysis, it can be seen that the peak vibration accel-
eration is not directly related to the peak stress of the slope. If the
peak velocity is the same, the peak stress of the slope will be
identical. With a higher vibration frequency, the vibration accel-
eration will be greater and the vibration displacement will be
smaller. It also indicates that under the blasting vibration load,
when the slope has the same velocity, the higher the frequency is,
the smaller the impact of blasting is on the slope stability. Based
on the variation regularity of displacement and the stress along
the depth of the slope, it is found that the seismic blasting waves
with the main frequency of 20 60 Hz induced by the slope
blasting excavation only affect the stability of the shallow poten-
tial landslides.
Determination of equivalent acceleration in the limit
equilibrium analysis
The rigid body limit equilibrium method is usually adopted to
study the dynamic stability of high rock slopes under blasting
vibration. The blasting vibration inertia force is usually converted
into an equivalent static load by using the quasi-static method,
and the formula is shown in eq. (12)
(12) F 0K0W
where 0 is the reduction factor for the blasting load, K0 is the
seismic coefcient (= a/g, where a is the blasting vibration accel-
eration and g is the acceleration of gravity), and W is the calcu-
lated weight of a potential landslide. Some researchers suggested
taking 0 = 0.10.3 in a rough calculation (Ding 1992), and (Li and
Wu 1998) suggested that the value of 0 should be 0.0080.152 by
using the response spectrum method.
From the analysis in the section titled Analysis of the relation-
ship between vibration parameters, the peak particle velocity
and the peak stress of the slope show a good correlation, but there
is almost no correlation between the vibration peak particle ac-
celeration and the peak stress. In analyzing the slope stability, the
rigid body limit equilibrium method is based on Mohr-Coulomb
shear strength theory (Chen et al. 2005), so there is a correlation
between the stress state of the slope and the parameters used such
as the angle of internal friction and the cohesion of the slope rock
mass and the structural plane. When eq. (12) is used, the equiva-
lent static load of the inertia force, the cumulative effect of the
blasting vibration load with time on the displacement and the
stress state of the slope is neglected because it fails to consider
the impact of the blasting vibration frequency. As a result, the
higher the vibration frequency, the greater the converted quasi-
static load, and the smaller the stability factor of the slope. It is
very incompatible with monitoring results in practice and con-
ventional knowledge, so if the relationship between the accelera-
tion and frequency is ignored, the direct use of measurement or
conversion of acceleration is limited in analyzing the dynamic
stability of high rock slopes under blasting vibration.
Engineering practices show that the destruction induced by
blasting vibration is closely related to the peak particle velocity.
By using the correlation between the peak particle velocity and
the peak stress, the effects of the vibration frequency are con-
sidered through the relevant conversion. In this way, the slope
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 444 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 51, 2014

Fig. 2. Relationship between peak stress in the direction of z-axis and depth of slope.
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Fig. 3. Relationship between normal peak particle vibration velocity and depth of slope.
For personal use only.

stability is closely related to the vibration acceleration and the
stress state of the slope.
Because the vibration frequency of earthquakes is lower and
there is a good correlation between the vibration acceleration and
the destruction state of the slope, in disposing of low-frequency
vibration acceleration in the seismic analysis, using the limit equi-
librium method is relatively reasonable and reliable (Chen et al.
2000; Li et al. 2006). So it is concluded that when the peak
vibration velocity is the same, the peak stress of the slope is also
the same. Based on the same peak stress in the slope, taking the
vibration frequency of 1 Hz as a benchmark, the high-frequency
acceleration of the blasting vibration can be converted into the
acceleration with the frequency of 1 Hz, which is equivalent to
the seismic frequency and closely related to the slope stability.
The inverted acceleration is dened as the equivalent accelera-
tion. According to the relationship between the peak vibration
velocity and the acceleration, and the relationship between the
vibration velocity and the stress, the acceleration af with the vi-
bration frequency of f = at the same vibration velocity can be con-
verted into the equivalent acceleration aeq with the vibration
frequency of 1 Hz
1 
(13) aeq af
f

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 Chen et al. 445

High-frequency blasting vibration acceleration can be converted Fig. 4. Diagram of forces acting on slice i.
into a low-frequency acceleration by eq. (13). It should be noted that
the converted acceleration only generates the same peak stress in
the slope. The analysis in the section titled Analysis of the rela-
tionship between vibration parameters indicates that there is a
great difference in the peak vibration displacement, vibration
velocity, stress distribution, and the variation induced by vibra-
tion accelerations with different frequencies in the slope. Low-
frequency vibration waves have a greater harmful effect on the
slope than those with high frequencies.
When the vibration frequency is higher, the vibration displace-
ment, the acceleration, and the stress attenuation of the blasting
vibration have less harmful effects on the slope. The effect of a
frequency-dependent factor called in the calculation of equiva-
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lent acceleration should be considered. So, the equivalent accel-

eration can be modied as follows:

1 
(14) aeq af
f 

where is the effect factor of frequency, and it ranges from 1.05 to

1.20. A greater value is required for a high frequency.

Time-history method for dynamic stability analysis

of rock slopes
Basic idea of time-history method based on the Sarma The following expression is available from the MohrCoulomb
method criterion:
For personal use only.

The Sarma method of the limit equilibrium analysis can analyze

the dynamic stability of slopes with complex faults, joints, and
other weaker zones, and it also considers the strength of potential
landslides. So it is recognized as an effective way to calculate the
stability of rock slopes with joints (Chen et al. 2005). Therefore,
the present study adopts the Sarma method of the limit equilib-
rium analysis. The Sarma method assumes that the slope is in the
state of limit equilibrium when it begins to slide, and the poten-
tial landslide is divided into several slices. Slice i in a potential
landslide shown in Fig. 4 is used as an example.
At any time, the horizontal and vertical inertial forces of the
blasting vibration on slice i are dened as Fxi and Fyi, respectively.
After the inertial force of the earthquake dened as KcWi is intro-
duced (where Kc is the critical horizontal acceleration coefcient
and Wi is the gravity of slice i), the transient stability safety factor
dened as F of the sliding surface is 1. The following expressions
can be obtained by the principle of static equilibrium x = 0, y = 0:
(15) Ti cosi Ni sini Fxi KcWi xi1 sini1
xi sini Ei1 cosi1 Ei cosi 0 moment when Kc = 0, the safety factor is the dynamic stability
(16) Ti sini Ni cosi Wi Fi Fyi xi1 cosi1
xi cosi Ei1 sini1 Ei sini 0
where Ti and Ni are the shear force and normal force, respectively,
on the bottom surface of slice i; xi and xi+1 are the shear force on
the side of slice i and slice i+1, respectively; Ei and Ei+1 are the
normal forces on the side of slice i and slice i+1, respectively; Fi is
the external force on top of the potential landslide; Fxi and Fyi are
the horizontal and vertical inertial forces of blasting vibration,
respectively, on slice i; i and i+1 are the angles between the sides
of slice i and slice i+1 with vertical direction, respectively; and i is
the angle between the sliding surface of slice i with horizontal
direction.
For eqs. (15) and (16), if Fxi and Fyi are not taken into account,
they are the static equilibrium equations of classical Sarma
method in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively.
(17) Ti (Ni Ui) tanbi Cbibi seci
where Ui is the hydrostatic pressure on the bottom surface of slice
i, bi, and Cbi are strength parameters of the sliding surface, and bi
is the width of the bottom surface of slice i.
At the same time, if it is assumed that the forces of the two sides
E and x are in a state of limit equilibrium, it is expressed as
(18) xi (Ei PWi) tanSi CSidi
(19) xi1 (Ei1 PWi1) tanSi1 CSi1di1
where PWi and PWi+1 are the hydrostatic pressures on the sides of
slice i and slice i+1, respectively, Si and CSi are the strength param-
eters of the side of the slice, and di and di+1 are the length of the
sides of slice i and slice i+1, respectively.
The critical horizontal acceleration coefcient, Kc, can be ob-
tained from the simultaneous solution to the eqs. (15) to (19). At a
safety factor of the slope under the inertial force of the blasting
vibration.
The inertial force of the blasting vibration on each slice at any
time can be obtained from the attenuation characteristic of the
blasting vibration, and the relation between the vibration velocity
and the acceleration. Then the previous inertial force of the blast-
ing vibration is taken into account in calculating the dynamic
stability of rock slopes. The whole blasting vibration process is
analyzed during a certain time step, and then the time-history
curve of the dynamic stability safety factor and the minimal sta-
bility safety factor of the slope under the blasting vibration can be
obtained. During the entire duration of blasting vibration, the
minimal factor can be chosen as the dynamic stability safety fac-
tor of the whole slope.
Determination of inertial force of the blasting vibration
In this paper, the blasting vibration force is determined by the
time-history curve of the acceleration. For rock slopes and under-

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 446
ground chambers, the blasting vibration velocity is usually mon-
itored. So the theoretical relation between the peak particle
vibration velocity and the acceleration should be developed to
determine the inertial force of the blasting vibration in the slope
stability analysis under the blasting vibration.
The attenuation of the blasting vibration along the height and
depth direction of the slope is considered, and the following t-
ting formula is adopted to show the attenuation characteristic of
the peak particle vibration velocity:
(20) V K(Q1/3 /R)(Q1/3 /H)(Q1/3 /D)
where V is the peak particle vibration velocity; K is the factor
about the eld; Q is the charge weight per delay; R is the distance
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from the explosion source; , , and are attenuation factors; H is
the difference in elevation between the potential landslide and
the explosion source; and D is the distance from the center of the
potential landslide to the slope surface.
In theoretical research, the attenuation of the vibration fre-
quency in the whole potential landslide is overlooked, and the
(23) a(t) 0
Ve[t(r/Cp)]2 f cos{2 f[t (r/Cp)] 0} sin{2 f[t (r/Cp)] 0}
where a(t) is the blasting vibration acceleration at time t.
The value of the inertial force of each slice is given by the
For personal use only.
acceleration of the slice centroid when the Sarma method is used
to analyze the slope dynamic stability. And the variation of the
vibration acceleration of each slice at the centroid with time can
be acquired from eq. (14). Then the relationship between the iner-
tia force of slice i in a certain direction and the weight and the
centroid acceleration of slice i can yield
Wi
(24) Fi(t) a (t)
g i
where ai(t) is the equivalent acceleration of the blasting vibration
of slice i at time t.
It is concluded that Fxi and Fyi of each slice in the horizontal
and vertical directions vary with time by eq. (24), according to
the acceleration of each slice centroid of the slope in each
direction.
After the inertial force of the blasting vibration is obtained,
eqs. (15) to (19) are used to analyze the limit equilibrium of the
whole potential landslide stability. In this way, the safety factor of
the potential landslide stability can be acquired during the entire
duration of the blasting vibration, and the minimal factor is cho-
sen as the dynamic stability safety factor.
Case study slope stability of the Jinping I
Hydropower Station
General situation of the project
The Jinping I Hydropower Station is located in the main stream
of the Yalong River at the junction of Yanyuan County and Muli
County in the Sichuan Province, China. It is the rst step in a
ve-step cascade development scheme of the Yalong River from
the midstream to the downstream with the richest hydropower
resources. The task of this project is mainly power generation,
ood control, and so on. The total installed capacity is 3600 MW.
The slope of the left bank of the hydropower station is high and
steep, and it is more than 1000 m high with the bedrock exposed
and the cliff standing. The gradient of the slope is from 60 to 90
under EL.1900 m, and the bedrock is mainly the marble and sandy
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 51, 2014
vibration in the region is assumed to be controlled by the main
frequency. Thus blasting vibration velocity has the following form
in both the horizontal and vertical directions:
(21) v Vet sin(2 ft 0)
The acceleration can be obtained from the derivation of the
velocity:
(22) a Vet[2 f cos(2 ft 0) sin(2 ft 0)]
where is the attenuation index of the blasting vibration with
time, f and 0 are the principal frequency and the initial phase of
the blasting vibration wave, respectively.
The acceleration of each point of the slope is conveyed gradu-
ally from the explosion source, so the acceleration variation of
each point of the slope is closely related to the distance from the
explosion source. The relationship can be expressed by eq. (23)
0 t (r/Cp)
t (r/Cp)
slate. The hydropower project has the characteristics of large-
scale slopes, sophisticated technical conditions, high and steep
natural valley slopes, higher insitu stress levels, strong rock un-
loading and rich faults, inter-layer extrusion zones and deep
cracks. The complex geological conditions are very rare in hy-
dropower projects all over the world. The height of the excavation
slope on the left bank of the arch dam reaches 520 m, hence the
safety and stability of the slope is very prominent.
On the basis of the blasting excavation of the left bank of the
cable machine platform high slope on EL.1960 m and below in the
Jinping I Hydropower Station, a sliding mode of section 11 of
the left bank high slope is selected in this paper to analyze the
static and dynamic stability under the blasting vibration.
The sliding mode is shown in Fig. 5, and the slide surface passes
through a fault named f8 and a weak unloading boundary. The
potential landslide is divided into a total of 10 vertical slices. Pa-
rameters of the slices of potential landslides are listed in Table 1.
The parameters of the slice surface are determined by the strength
parameters of the crossed rock masses in the process of using the
Sarma method. If the slice surface crosses different rocks, param-
eters of the slice surfaces will be chosen according to the average
of the length crossed.
The blasting excavation at EL.1960 m cable machine platform
and the slope below EL.1960 m is considered, the effect of the
blasting vibration on the stability of the potential landslide under
the bench blasting is studied. Based on the practical experience
vibration monitoring, values of K and are 78 and 1.3, respec-
tively. And the values of both and in eq. (20) are 0.0 under the
condition of overlooking the difference in elevation between
the measuring point and the explosion source and neglecting the
attenuation of the blasting vibration along the depth direction of
the slope (actually the safety margin increases at this time). The
value of in eqs. (21) and (22) is 10.0 by considering the attenua-
tion characteristic of blasting vibration with time.
Time-history curve of the dynamic stability safety factor
The charge per delay is about 100 kg in the blasting excavation
of the slope. In light of this charge, the time-history curves of the
slope dynamic stability safety factor are calculated in the main
frequencies of 10, 30, and 60 Hz by using the equivalent accelera-
tion method and the Sarma method under the blasting vibration.
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 Chen et al. 447

Fig. 5. Sliding mode of the left bank slope of the Jinping I
Hydropower Station.
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calculated under the same conditions by eq. (12) with the 0 val-
ued as 0.2. The minimum dynamic stability safety factor on the
time-history curve is selected as the slope dynamic stability safety
factor. The dynamic stability safety factors with the main frequen-
cies of 10, 30, and 60 Hz under blasting vibration based on the two
methods mentioned above are shown in Table 2.
Figure 6 and Table 2 indicate that, according to the equivalent
acceleration method, the higher the blasting vibration frequency
is, the smaller the inuence on the slope stability is, and the
smaller the inuence on the whole slope safety factor is. It is
coincident with the result of the nite element method on the
effect of the blasting vibration on the slope stability in the
references (Li 1995). However, according to the reduction factor

method, the higher the blasting vibration frequency is, the

greater the inuence on the slope stability is, which may cause the
slope stability factor to decrease by 46.6%, which is not in agree-
ment with practical projects. Clearly, as the equivalent accelera-
tion quasi-static method has considered the relationship between
the blasting vibration load and the actual stress state in the slope,
it is more reasonable to evaluate the slope dynamic stability under
the blasting vibration.
Actually, because the slope in the example has a higher static
stability safety factor, the inuence of the blasting vibration iner-
tia force on the slope stability is less important. If the slope sta-
bility safety factor is low, the inuence will be signicant; for the
slope illustrated, if the value of the initial static stability safety
factor is 1.0, then the slope stability safety factor will be reduced
by about 4% to 8% by the blasting vibration.
For personal use only.

Conclusions
From the above analysis, the following conclusions can be
Table 1. Parameters of slices of potential sliding slope. drawn:

Parameters of sliding Parameters between 1. The blasting waves of different frequencies result in different
surface slices peak displacements and peak accelerations when the vibra-
tion velocities on the slope surface are the same. The normal
Slice Cohesive Friction Cohesive Friction
number strength (kPa) angle () strength (kPa) angle ()
peak displacement of the slope is inversely proportional to the
main frequency of the wave, while the normal peak vibration
1 1000 45.6 800 38.7 acceleration of the slope is proportional to the main fre-
2 1000 45.6 897 42.2 quency, and the vibration wave induces the same peak stress
3 1000 45.6 917 42.9
in the slope.
4 1000 45.6 922 43.0
5 1000 45.6 912 42.7 2. The inuence of the frequency must be considered in the
6 1000 45.6 920 43.0 blasting vibration acceleration analysis. According to the com-
7 1000 45.6 768 39.3 prehensive consideration of the mutual relationship between
8 500 33.0 730 38.4 the vibration frequency, vibration acceleration, and stress
9 20 16.7 800 38.7 state of the slope, and the fact that the same peak stress in the
10 20 16.7 slope is created by the same peak particle vibration velocity,
the method of converting the high-frequency acceleration to a
low-frequency acceleration blasting vibration is feasible. An
The calculation results are shown in Fig. 6. The static stability equivalent acceleration method is proposed for the dynamic
safety factor of 2.248 and the stability safety factor of 2.122 under stability limit equilibrium analysis of slopes under blasting
the VII degree natural earthquake of 0.125 times gravitational vibration.
acceleration are also shown in Fig. 6. Obviously, because the phase 3. By using the equivalent acceleration of the blasting vibration
change of the blasting vibration waves leads to the direction
and the Sarma method of the rigid body limit equilibrium
change of the inertial force of blasting vibration on each slice at
analysis, the variation of the slope stability with time under
any time, the dynamic stability safety factor uctuates around the
the blasting vibration is obtained, where the variation of the
static stability safety factor. Fluctuation will speed up with the
increase in frequency, and will nally return to the static stability blasting vibration load with time is considered.
safety factor because of the attenuation of the blasting vibration 4. The analytic results of the case study indicate that the time-
with time. Compared with the results of the static stability anal- history method based on the equivalent acceleration and the
ysis, the slope safety factor under the blasting vibration will in- Sarma method of the limit equilibrium analysis is more rea-
crease or decrease by 1%3%. sonable. The results of the case study also indicate that the
The slope stability safety factors calculated from the method stability safety factor of slopes generally decreases a few per-
presented in this study are compared with the results from the cent under the blasting vibration, and the higher the main
equivalent acceleration method and the conventional quasi-static frequency of vibration is, the greater the slope stability safety
method of reduction factor. The blasting vibration inertia force is factor is.

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 448
Fig. 6. Time-history curves of dynamic safety factor of the high slope.
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Table 2. Comparison of safety factor results from the two methods.
10 Hz main frequency
For personal use only.
Safety Rate of
Method factor reduction (%)
New analytic method 2.179 3.1
Reduction factor method 2.050 8.8
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the Chinese National Programs for Fun-
damental Research and Development (No. 2011CB013501), the Chinese
National Natural Science Foundation (51079111, 51279146), and the
Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (2012-NCET-
0425). The authors wish to express their thanks to all supporters.
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