In the present study, we address an important and increasingly relevant topic in mining safety and efficiency, namely the stability of open-pit bench slopes subjected to daily heavy truck cyclic loading. Specifically, we focus on the stability of Zhahanur open-pit slope (Inner Mongolia region, China) and investigate the potential role of daily heavy truck cyclic loading in bench slope instability. To this end, we incorporate a stress corrosion model into the particle flow code to develop a time-dependent deformation model of the rock. With the established model, we quantitatively analyse the effect of heavy truck cyclic loading on the bench slope stability. Our results support the hypothesis that daily heavy truck loading can cause gradual downward deformation of a rock mass, leading to slope instability. To validate our numerical modelling results, we compare and analyse them with in situ monitoring data. Our study demonstrates the significant impact of daily heavy vehicles on bench slope stability in open-pit mines and provides a practical tool for assessing the long-term stability of open-pit bench slopes and optimising mining operations.

Slope Stability Analysis is one of the main aspects of Open-pit mine planning because the calculations regarding the stability of slopes are necessary to assess the stability of the open pit slopes together with the financial feasibility of the mining operations. This study was conducted to analyse the effect of groundwater on the shear strength properties of soft rock formations and determine the optimum overall slope angle for an open pit coal mine at Thar Coalfield, Pakistan. Computer modelling and analysis of the slope models were performed using Slide (v. 5.0) and Phase2 (v. 6.0) software. Integrated use of Limit Equilibrium based Probabilistic (LE-P) analysis and Finite Element Method (FEM) based shear strength reduction analysis was performed to determine the safe overall slope angle against circular failure. Several pit slope models were developed at different overall slope angles and pore-water pressure ratio (Ru) coefficients. Each model was initially analysed under dry conditions and then by incorporating the effect of pore-water pressure coefficients of Ru = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 (partially saturated); finally, the strata were considered to be fully saturated. It was concluded that at an overall slope angle of 29 degrees, the overall slope will remain stable under dry and saturated conditions for a critical safety factor of 1.3.