Comparative study of rock slope stability analysis methods for hydropower projects

This paper presents a comparative study of methods used for the analysis of the stability of rock slopes for hydropower projects. The comparison concerns the application of the limit equilibrium method, the block element method, and the finite element method on the stability analysis of two hydropower engineering projects in China. The study results show that the limit equilibrium method and the block element method give very close result, while the finite element method gives more conservative safety factor.