Bench Design Tutorial

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Bench Design Tutorial

This tutorial will familiarize the user with the Bench Design features of
RocPlane by analyzing an open pit mine example.
Slope instabilities in open pit mines present a significant design
challenge in geotechnical engineering. Such failures can be controlled by
major structures (e.g. faults or lithologic contacts), which have sufficient
lengths to affect overall stability, or by more numerous, smaller
structures such as joints, foliations and bedding planes. While a number
of tools are available to analyze potential large scale slope failures (such
as the Rocscience program Slide), using such methods to design an open
pit mine slope may result in unanticipated instabilities caused by bench
failure. Small scale failures can have a direct influence on the overall
slope angle and therefore must be considered.
RocPlane includes a Bench Design function that allows the user to assess
the stability of bench-scale wedges for a range of bench face angles. To do
so, two design approaches are available: a managed approach to slope
design and a quantitative hazard assessment. By using the managed
approach, the user is able to assess the number of failed wedges and
minimum bench width required for each bench face angle. For a
quantitative assessment, the user is able to estimate the likelihood of
forming different wedge sizes (Probability of Occurrence) and the
likelihood that such wedges will slide (Probability of Sliding), which
provides an estimate of the Probability of Failure for various back break
distances. Both of these approaches provide valuable information on
bench loss and assist the user in selecting an optimum bench face angle.

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Topics Covered in this Tutorial

Random Variables
Persistence Analysis
Bench Loss
Managed Slope Design
Quantitative Hazard Analysis

If you have not already done so, run the RocPlane program by doubleclicking on the RocPlane icon in your installation folder. Or from the
Start menu, select Programs Rocscience RocPlane 3.0 RocPlane.
If the RocPlane application window is not already maximized, maximize
it now, so that the full screen is available for viewing the model.
When the RocPlane program is started, a default model is automatically
created, allowing you to begin defining your model immediately. If you do
NOT see a wedge model on your screen:

Select: File New

Whenever a new file is created, the default input data will form a valid
wedge.

Model
Select Project Settings from the toolbar or the Analysis menu.

Select: Analysis Project Settings

1. Select the General tab in the dialog. Select the Probabilistic
Analysis Type.
2. Select Units = Metric, stress as MPa.
3. Select the Sampling tab in the dialog. Make sure the Sampling
Method is set to Latin Hypercube and Number of Samples is
100,000.
4. Select the Random Numbers tab in the dialog. Make sure the
Random Number Generation method = Pseudo-random, and the
Specify Seed check box is unchecked.
5. Press the OK button to exit the Project Settings dialog.

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Input Data
Now lets define the slope and joint properties in the Input Data dialog.

Select: Analysis Input Data

1. Select the Slope tab in the Input Data dialog. Enter Dip Angle =
60 and Slope Height = 15m and Unit Weight = 0.026 MN/m3. The
statistical distributions should all be set = None.
2. For this analysis, we are going to ignore very small wedges as
they do not pose a risk to the open pit. Select the Minimum
Wedge Size checkbox and enter a minimum weight of 0.001MN.

3. Select the Upper Face tab. Define Dip Angle = 0. Select the
Bench Width checkbox and enter a width of 7m. Statistical
distribution = None for both variables.

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4. Select the Failure Plane tab. Enter Mean Dip Angle = 55,
Normal Distribution, std. dev. = 10, relative min = relative max =
30. Enter Mean Waviness = 10, Uniform Distribution, relative
min = relative max = 5.

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5. Select the Strength tab. Set the Strength Model to MohrCoulomb. Make sure the Random Variables option is set to
Parameters. Enter Mean c=0 and set the statistical distribution
to None. For Phi, set the Mean=35 and the statistical distribution
to Normal with a Standard Deviation=3 and a Relative Minimum
and Relative Maximum=9.

6. Press the OK button to save your changes, compute the

probability of failure, and exit the Input Data dialog.

Analysis Results
After closing the Input Data dialog, computation of 100,000 Latin
Hypercube samples will occur and the probability of failure will be
calculated. Figure 1 illustrates the results of this computation. Some of
the notable results are:

The results of the probabilistic analysis are summarized in the

Sidebar information panel. The wedge computed using the mean
values of all the input parameters is displayed along with its
factor of safety results.

The total probability of failure for the slope is 0.6 or 60%. Out of
the 100,000 samples, 69160 produced valid wedges. Of these,
60041 had a factor of safety less than 1.0 (failed). The probability
of failure is therefore equal to #failed/total#samples=
60041/100000=0.60041.

The mean wedge has a factor of safety=0.614.

It is important to remember that RocPlane will do its best to fit a

wedge inside the slope dimensions. This means it tries to
determine a maximum size wedge for any slope geometry.

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The probability of failure for the slope is conservative (upper bound

solution) since positional information and joint length is not accounted for
and the maximum size wedge is computed. This limitation will be
addressed in the next section.

Figure 1: Results of basic probabilistic analysis.

Bench Design
The bench plays a critical role in an open pit mine as it prevents rockfalls
from upper levels of the pit slope from reaching the operational areas in
lower levels. In order for the bench to be functional, the usable width
must be sufficient to catch spillage from the benches above. In bench
design, the usable width is defined as the total width of the bench
minus the bench width lost during excavation. The amount lost is also
referred to as the backbreak distance and is typically caused by planar
or wedge failure along the crest. This is shown in Figure 2.
For bench design, it is important for the engineer to determine (a) the
number of failed wedges that are expected to occur, (b) the likelihood of
different back break distances (Probability of Occurrence) and (c) the
likelihood that a wedge with a given backbreak distance will slide
(Probability of Sliding). When the Probabilities of Occurrence and Sliding
are multiplied together, an estimate of the Probability of Failure is also
obtained for a given backbreak distance, which can be used to assess the
risk along the slope.

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As the size of the wedges is controlled by the slope geometry, these

probabilities are expected to change as the bench face angle changes. The
goal of the bench design is therefore to determine the optimum
orientation, which is defined as the steepest interramp angle that can be
achieved while preserving adequate bench widths.

BenchWidth
(BW)
Sliding
Wedge

Interramp
Angle(IRA)

Spill
Width
Back
break

Bench
Height(BH )

BenchFace
Angle(BFA)
Usable
Width

Figure 2: Typical catch bench geometry.

To assist in this, RocPlane allows for the failure characteristics for a
number of different bench face angles to be assessed at the same time. It
also allows for the creation of more reasonably sized wedges through the
use of joint length statistics, based on joint persistence. This is done
through the Bench Design option.

Select: Analysis Bench Design

1. Select the Bench Design check box. For this tutorial, a Fixed
Bench Width analysis will be performed.
Two different analyses are available for bench design, depending
on the nature of the problem being addressed. The first uses a
Fixed Bench Width, meaning that the interramp angle (IRA)
will be calculated for the given bench width and bench face angle
(Figure 3). This analysis would be used where the width of the
bench is defined by an operation requirement.

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Figure 3: Fixed bench width, variable IRA.

A second analysis, which assumes a Fixed Interramp Angle,
allows the user to set the IRA. This means that the bench width
will change for each bench face angle considered (Figure 4). In
this case, the minimum bench face angle must be greater than
the IRA value to ensure a bench is created.

Figure 4: Fixed IRA, variable bench width

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2. For this analysis, set the Bench Width to 7m and the Number of
Backbreak Cells to 20.
In order to calculate the Probabilities of Occurrence, Sliding and
Failure along the bench, it must be divided into a series of
Backbreak Cells (Figure 5). This allows the user to analyze the
number of wedges that occur within that cell as well as the failure
characteristics for each wedge. For this example, 20 backbreak
cells will be used, meaning each cell is 7/20=0.35m wide.

Figure 5: Simulated wedge and backbreak cells.

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3. To establish persistence characteristics for the failure plane, click

Define beside the Persistence Settings option.
4. When the Persistence Analysis screen appears, make sure that
the Joint Spacing option is Small (Ubiquitous). In the first
analysis we do, were going to assume infinite persistence so do
not toggle on the Joint persistence settings.

RocPlane looks at two possible conditions for joint spacing. If the

spacing is Large, this means that there is only one trace of the
joint on the slope face. Thus only one wedge is generated on the
slope. Its location or the elevation of the toe of the wedge, is
randomly chosen on the slope face. The persistence is then
sampled for the wedge, if the persistence is not large enough to
create a valid wedge, the wedge is deemed invalid (not forming).
This is a lower bound solution for the probability of failure, as the
spacing and persistence condition will limit the formation of
wedges. Now consider if there is spacing (repeated joints)
associated with the joint. No longer is there one wedge but a
number of possible wedges that can form on the bench. If a wedge
cannot form due to the persistence not being large enough, then
what happens is a wedge higher up the slope face, which meets
the persistence conditions, will form. If this is the case, then the
Small or Ubiquitous joint spacing model is more applicable.
This model will automatically scale down the wedge size until the
persistence conditions are met. So a wedge is almost always
formed in each simulation if the geometry of the joint and slope
creates a kinematically feasible wedge. Its size is dependent on
the sampled persistence and the geometry of the bench. This is an
upper bound solution for probability of failure as the program will
always create a wedge independent of any spatial location of the
joint on the slope face. The only thing that limits the size of the
wedge is the geometry of the bench and the persistence of the
joint.

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5. NOTE: in RocPlane, the definition of joint persistence is 2dimensional, and is simply equal to the failure plane length as
shown in the figure below.

6. Press the OK button to save your changes.

7. Select the Bench Face Angle Range check box. Enter a
Minimum angle of 30 deg, a Maximum of 90 deg and an Interval
of 5 deg.
8. Enter a Design Threshold of 80%. For open pit design, this
value is typically set between 75-85%. This threshold is also
commonly associated with cases where the assumption is that of
infinite persistence (Carvalho (2012), Gibson et al., 2006). If
persistence is known to a high degree of certainty (rare), then this
number will be higher.
9. Press the OK button to save your changes and exit the Bench
Design dialog.

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Bench Design Results

After closing the Bench Design dialog, computation of 100,000 Latin
Hypercube samples will occur for each bench face angle (30 to 90 degrees
in 5 degree increments). During this assessment, each valid wedge is
assigned to one of the backbreak cells based on the width of the wedge on
the upper face, measured from the crest. As an example, if a wedge has a
width from the crest of 0.4m, it would be assigned to the 0.35-0.7m
backbreak cell.
A number of approaches are available to interpret the data from the
bench analysis and assist with design. These include a managed
approach to bench design as well as a quantitative hazard analysis.

Managed Approach to Bench Design

In open pit mining, it is often acceptable to use steeper bench face angles
and allow some failures to occur as long as safety is not compromised.
While this will result in a greater amount of failed material on the bench
(this is referred to as the spill width), the cost of regular bench cleanups
is significantly less than the cost of excavating additional waste rock
when using shallow bench angles. This concept, referred to as a managed
approach, can be utilized in RocPlane through various plots.
The first is the Total Probability of Failure plot, which is calculated for
each bench face angle by dividing the total number of valid wedges with a
factor of safety less than 1.0 (failed) by the total number of samples
(100,000 in this case).
Select: Statistics Bench Design Total Probability of Failure Plot

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This shows that the Total Probability of Failure (and therefore the
number of failed wedges) increases as the bench face angle increases from
30 to 90deg. This is logical as one would expect more failed wedges for a
steeper slope.
The normalized frequency of failed wedges can also be calculated for each
bench angle by normalizing the number of failed wedges for a given angle
by the maximum number of failed wedges at a slope angle of 90 degrees.
An optimum bench face angle can then be selected for a given acceptable
level of failure. As an example, if 20% of failures are allowed to occur, a
bench angle of 49 degrees would be recommended for this example. This
is the method published by Carvalho (2012).

Another important design parameter is the minimum bench width, which

is defined as the sum of the backbreak distance and the spill width (see
the RocPlane Help for spill width equations) for failed wedges (Figure 2).
If this value is greater than the actual bench width, material may spill
over the bench and move down the pit into the operating levels below. As
both the backbreak distance and spill width will have a distribution of
values, a minimum bench width is defined for each bench face angle
according to the 80% Design Threshold specified for this analysis.
Select: Statistics Bench Design Minimum Bench Width Plot

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Based on this plot, a bench face angle greater than about 48 degrees
would not be recommended as the minimum bench width is greater than
7m. As the bench face angle decreases, a greater usable bench width is
expected.

Quantitative Hazard Analysis (QHA)

While the managed approach can be used to determine the number of
failed wedges for each bench face angle, it does not provide information
on the expected wedge size and amount of bench loss. To determine this,
a Quantitative Hazard Assessment is needed (QHA). A QHA calculates
the probability that the bench will fail to a certain backbreak distance.
Such an analysis is useful on its own, but can also be combined with an
estimate of the potential cost of bench loss to calculate the expected risk.
To interpret the output of the QHA, some terms must first be defined:

Cell Probability of Occurrence: for a given backbreak cell, this is

the number of valid wedges in the cell divided by the total
number of samples (100,000 in this case).

Cell Probability of Sliding: for a given backbreak cell, this is the

number of valid wedges with a factor of safety less than 1.0
(failed) divided by the number of valid wedges.

Cell Probability of Failure: for a given backbreak cell, this is the

Probability of Occurrence for the cell multiplied by the Probability
of Sliding for the cell.

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When dealing with a QHA, information on joint persistence should be

used. In this way, the location and size of the wedge is better determined.
First, close all graph views except the main 3D view.
To turn on persistence do the following:

Select: Analysis Bench Design

1. To establish persistence characteristics for the joints, click Define
beside the Persistence Settings option.
2. When the Persistence Analysis screen appears, turn on the
definition of persistence for the failure plane by selecting the
checkbox.
Define the mean value of persistence as 3m for the failure plane.
Define an exponential distribution for both joints. Set the
relative min and max persistence values as 2 and 6m
respectively. This corresponds to an absolute minimum and
maximum persistence value of 1 and 9m respectively. The
persistence will never be less than 1m or greater than 9m.

3. Press the OK button to save your Persistence changes.

4. Press the OK button in the Bench Design Option dialog to save
your Bench Design changes.
5. The program will take a minute or so to compute the bench
design analysis.
The first measure to be examined is the Probability of Occurrence.
Select: Statistics Bench Design Cell Probability of Occurrence Plot

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This plot shows that the most likely backbreak distance (represented by
the peak of the curve) for each bench face angle is 0.5 to 1.0m. Larger
wedges are also seen to be more common for steeper bench face angles,
given the longer tails in the curve. This is more clearly demonstrated
through a Cumulative Probability of Occurrence plot.
Select: Statistics Bench Design Cell Cumulative Probability of
Occurrence Plot

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Now that the likelihood of different wedge sizes is better understood, the
probability that a wedge with a given backbreak distance will slide (factor
of safety < 1.0) can be examined.
Select: Statistics Bench Design Cell Probability of Sliding Plot

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This plot shows that for shallow bench face angles (30 to 50deg) smaller
wedges (which have smaller backbreak distances) have the greatest
Probability of Sliding. For steeper bench face angles, the probability is
seen to decrease initially, before a consistent minimum value is obtained.
This indicates that for steeper bench face angles, larger wedges are a
more significant concern when considering bench loss.
By multiplying the Probability of Occurrence and Probability of Sliding
for each cell, a Probability of Failure for the cell can then be obtained.
This helps to identify the backbreak distances that are most likely to fail
when designing the open pit for each bench face angle. When multiplied
by the Consequence of such a failure (typically represented as a cost), the
risk for the slope can be assessed.
Select: Statistics Bench Design Cell Probability of Failure Plot

This concludes the Bench Design tutorial.

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