RocSlope3: Unlocking Full-Scale 3D Block Stability Analysis of Rock Slopes
What is RocSlope3?
RocSlope3 is a 3D program designed to revolutionize the analysis of rock slope stability. With its unique capabilities, RocSlope3 enables engineers to assess the factors of safety of hundreds or even thousands of blocks in highly jointed rock masses, where failures are structurally controlled.
While existing rock slope engineering tools like Dips, SWedge, RocPlane and RocTopple, have been industry staples for years, allowing users to effectively analyze various failure mechanisms, we recognized the need for large-scale rock slope analysis in both the civil and mining industries. This powerful software is applicable for civil engineering and mining, in the analysis of rock cuts, and benches at the open pit scale.
Video Transcript is available here.
Why did we create RocSlope3?
Geotechnical tools, inspired by you.
Since 1996, we have been dedicated to developing state-of-the-art geotechnical software programs tailored to your needs. Yet, we’re still asking the question: "What other tools do geotechnical engineers require?"
We are always actively listening to our customers’ feedback and communicating with geotechnical professionals, both in academia and practicing, to better understand the needs of the industry.
Last year, we initiated a project to research the need for a three-dimensional tool capable of comprehensive block stability analysis and risk assessment. The feedback we gathered was clear: engineers would greatly benefit from a program like this. Therefore, RocSlope3 was set in motion and development was started.
How was RocSlope3 developed?
Throughout the years, as the industry has progressed more into 3D, we’ve been strengthening our suite of 3D tools. Having our programs like Slide3, RS3, and EX3 all built off the same platform provides the agility for us to expand into new applications and develop programs that are designed to be used together.
RocSlope3 was built upon the already established foundation of analysis methods already utilized in our other solutions, utilizing similar algorithms and handling geometry in the same as you’d come to expect from our tools. For kinematics computations, we relied on Goodman and Shi's Block Theory, along with the trusted Limit Equilibrium Method used in SWedge and UnWedge. By combining these familiar technologies with innovative advancements in data input, processing, and visualization, RocSlope3 offers a unique and powerful solution for analyzing rock slope stability.
Our Vision
Our vision for RocSlope3 is to:
- Provide you with the ability to better model complicated 3D geometries and geological structures such as faults, joints, and discrete fracture networks (DFNs), so that you can improve the safety of your projects and limit risk.
- Bridge the gap between programs used for individual stability problems (Dips, SWedge, RocPlane) and analysis done at a full-scale level (RocSlope3), allowing you to optimize your workflow and be more efficient with your analysis and resource allocation.
- Improve the user experience across our entire software suite through program integrations and lowering the learning curve of using our 3D programs by leveraging the same set of powerful 3D geometry tools.
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