Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference 2025 (RIC 2025)

Overall Block Stability Analysis of Rock Slope with Semi-Automatic Extraction of Joint Properties from Point Cloud

Authors
Zoran Berisavljević1, *, Vojislav Đorđević2
1Belgrade University, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia
2Institute of Transportation CIP, Nemanjina 6/IV, Belgrade, Serbia
*Corresponding author. Email: zoran.berisavljevic@rgf.bg.ac.rs
Corresponding Author
Zoran Berisavljević
Available Online 7 December 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_46How to use a DOI?
Keywords
photogrammetry; DFN; point cloud; joint properties; block analysis
Abstract

This paper describes the procedure for the extraction of deterministic discrete fracture network (DFN) properties (orientation, location, and size) from the point cloud and the overall block stability analysis of a rock slope. UAV and SfM photogrammetry were used to collect the input data. Scaled and oriented 3D point cloud of a rock slope was generated in Agisoft MetaShape software. Different discontinuity sets were identified by a semi-automatic procedure in the Discontinuity Set Extractor (DSE) software, and the point cloud of each joint set was imported into the CloudCompare software to perform segmentation of planar facets using the Fast-Marching algorithm. This enabled the determination of location, orientation and size (area) of each cluster within the joint set. The data was exported in a.csv (Excel) format. The columns in Excel were adjusted to comply with the format of joint property definition in RocSlope3 software (dip and dip direction/X,Y,Z/diameter/joint property) in which the overall block stability analysis was performed. For the analyzed case study, 383 joints and joint traces were introduced into the model as circular discs. The intersection of the DFN and the 3D model of the slope produced 132 blocks. Six blocks are removable, and one has a factor of safety approximately equal to 1.0. Volumes of computed blocks (0.01 - 0.15 m3) correspond well with the registered size of detached blocks. Results of block stability analyses are dependent on the shear strength properties of joints. In order to produce reliable results block stability analyses should be aided by field and/or laboratory shear strength testing of discontinuities (especially at the location of critical blocks). The overall block analysis is only valid for blocky slopes where the discontinuity shear strength governs failure.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference 2025 (RIC 2025)
Series
Atlantis Highlights in Engineering
Publication Date
7 December 2025
ISBN
978-94-6463-900-1
ISSN
2589-4943
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_46How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

TY  - CONF
AU  - Zoran Berisavljević
AU  - Vojislav Đorđević
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/07
TI  - Overall Block Stability Analysis of Rock Slope with Semi-Automatic Extraction of Joint Properties from Point Cloud
BT  - Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference 2025 (RIC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 463
EP  - 471
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_46
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_46
ID  - Berisavljević2025
ER  -