Probabilistic slope stability assessment of variably saturated overburden dump slopes

  • Bhatt, A. et al. Physical, chemical, and geotechnical properties of coal fly ash: A global review. Case Stud. Constr. Mater. 11, e00263 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  • CEA Report. (2023). https://www.eai.in/ref/fe/coa/coa.html

  • Kumar, A., Das, S. K., Nainegali, L., Raviteja, K. V. N. S. & Reddy, K. R. Probabilistic slope stability analysis of coal mine waste rock dump. Geotech. Geol. Eng. 41, 4707–4724 (2023).

    Google Scholar 

  • Golder, A., Dandapat, S. P. & Roy, I. Instability of topsoil benches of a pit caused by dumping of waste rock outside an opencast coal mine. J. South. Afr. Inst. Min. Metall. 124, 703–710 (2024).

    Google Scholar 

  • Poulsen, B., Khanal, M., Rao, A. M., Adhikary, D. & Balusu, R. Mine overburden dump failure: A case study. Geotech. Geol. Eng. 32, 297–309 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowman, P. M. & Gilchrist, H. G. Waste dump instability and its operational impact for a Canadian Plains lignite mine. in Proc. Internat. Symp. on stability in coal mining, Vancouver 381–394 (1978).

  • Kasmer, O., Ulusay, R. & Gokceoglu, C. Spoil pile instabilities with reference to a strip coal mine in turkey: mechanisms and assessment of deformations. Environ. Geol. 49, 570–585 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pradhan, S. P., Vishal, V., Singh, T. N. & Singh, V. K. Optimisation of dump slope geometry vis-à-vis flyash utilisation using numerical simulation. Amer Jour Min. Metall. 2, 1–7 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, T. N., Pradhan, S. P. & Vishal, V. Stability of slopes in a fire-prone mine in Jharia Coalfield, India. Arab. J. Geosci. 6, 419–427 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty, M., Sarkar, R. & Das, S. K. Probabilistic assessment of effects of heterogeneity on the stability of coal mine overburden dump slopes through discrete element framework. Bull. Eng. Geol. Environ. 81, 228 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty, M., Sarkar, R. & Das, S. K. Effects of Spatial heterogeneity on pseudo-static stability of coal mine overburden dump slope, using random limit equilibrium and random finite element methods: A comparative study. Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib. 24, 83–99 (2025).

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddy, S. K. Analysis of fault’s effect on the highwall stability of Medapalli open pit coal mine. Geotech. Geol. Eng. 41, 2969–2986 (2023).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaulya, S. K. Quantification of stability improvement of a dump through biological reclamation. Geotech. Geol. Eng. 18, 193–207 (2000).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajak, T. K., Yadu, L., Chouksey, S. K. & Dewangan, P. K. Stability analysis of mine overburden dump stabilized with fly Ash. Int. J. Geotech. Eng. 15, 587–597 (2021).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahman, T., Sarkar, K. & Singh, A. K. Correlation of Geomechanical and dynamic elastic properties with the P-Wave velocity of lower Gondwana coal measure rocks of India. International J. Geomechanics 20, (2020).

  • Rajak, T. K., Yadu, L. & Chouksey, S. K. Effect of fly Ash on geotechnical properties and stability of coal mine overburden dump: an overview. SN Appl. Sci. 2, 973 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwinagara, B. & BACK ANALYSIS OF RAINFALL-INDUCED WASTE DUMP FAILURE USING COUPLED HYDRO-MECHANICAL ANALYSIS – A CASE STUDY IN COAL MINE. International J. GEOMATE 27, (2024).

  • Akram, M. S., Mirza, K., Ali, U. & Zeeshan, M. Geotechnical and hydrological characterization of subsurface for metallic minerals mining operations in Punjab, Pakistan. Open. J. Geol. 09, 752–767 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, L. et al. Pseudo-static analysis of 3D unsaturated bench slopes stabilized by multiple rows of piles. Transp. Geotechnics. 46, 101255 (2024).

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, A., Zhu, Y., Ye, S., Wang, L. & Fang, G. Three-dimensional seismic stability of unsaturated soil slopes with cracks reinforced by frame beam anchor plates. Structures 73, 108430 (2025).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Wang, Z. P., Zhang, G. D. & Xue, Y. D. Probabilistic prediction of slope failure time. Eng. Geol. 271, 105586 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  • Amoushahi, S., Grenon, M., Locat, J. & Turmel, D. Deterministic and probabilistic stability analysis of a mining rock slope in the vicinity of a major public road — case study of the LAB Chrysotile mine in Canada. Can. Geotech. J. 55, 1391–1404 (2018).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, J. & Ji, H. G. Analysis of rock slope stability on the basis of limit equilibrium method. Adv. Mat. Res. 711, 333–337 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsein Juang, C., Zhang, J. & Gong, W. Reliability-based assessment of stability of slopes. IOP Conf. Ser. Earth Environ. Sci. 26, 012006 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamedifar, H., Bea, R. G., Pestana-Nascimento, J. M. & Roe, E. M. Role of probabilistic methods in sustainable geotechnical slope stability analysis. Procedia Earth Planet. Sci. 9, 132–142 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dash, A. K. Analysis of accidents due to slope failure in Indian opencast coal mines. Curr. Sci. 117, 304 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  • Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS). Accident alerts. (2021).

  • Mohanty, M., Sarkar, R. & Das, S. K. A critical review on static and dynamic performance of coal mine overburden dump slopes: present status and way forward. J. Geol. Soc. India. 100, 1271–1286 (2024).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu, S., Chen, L., Wang, N. & Assouline, S. Modeling rainfall-infiltration-runoff processes on sloping surfaces subject to rapidly changing soil properties during seal formation. J. Hydrol. (Amst). 619, 129318 (2023).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu, W., Yang, Y., Jiao, Y. & Wang, S. Stability analysis of unsaturated slopes under rainfall and drainage using the vector-sum-based numerical manifold model. Comput. Geotech. 179, 106992 (2025).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, A. W. The principal of effective stress. Teknisk Ukeblad. 39, 859–863 (1959).

    Google Scholar 

  • Terzaghi, K. Theoretical Soil Mechanics. (1943).

  • Fredlund, D. G. Volume change behavior of unsaturated soils. (1973).

  • Lu, N. & Likos, W. J. Unsaturated Soil Mechanics (Wiley, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  • van Genuchten, M. Th. A Closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44, 892–898 (1980).

    Google Scholar 

  • GARDNER, W. R. & SOME STEADY-STATE SOLUTIONS OF THE UNSATURATED MOISTURE FLOW EQUATION WITH APPLICATION TO EVAPORATION FROM A WATER TABLE. Soil. Sci. 85, 228–232 (1958).

    Google Scholar 

  • Vahedifard, F. & Robinson, J. D. Unified method for estimating the ultimate bearing capacity of shallow foundations in variably saturated soils under steady flow. Journal Geotech. Geoenvironmental Engineering 142, (2016).

  • Wang, L., Sun, D., Chen, B. & Li, J. Three-dimensional seismic stability of unsaturated soil slopes using a semi-analytical method. Comput. Geotech. 110, 296–307 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, L., Tang, L., Wang, Z., Liu, H. & Zhang, W. Probabilistic characterization of the soil-water retention curve and hydraulic conductivity and its application to slope reliability analysis. Comput Geotech 121, (2020).

  • Tschuchnigg, F., Schweiger, H. F. & Sloan, S. W. Slope stability analysis by means of finite element limit analysis and finite element strength reduction techniques. Part II: back analyses of a case history. Comput. Geotech. 70, 178–189 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  • Raj, D., Singh, Y. & Shukla, S. K. Seismic bearing capacity of strip foundation embedded in c – ϕ soil slope. International J. Geomechanics 18, (2018).

  • MARTIN, C. M. The use of adaptive finite-element limit analysis to reveal slip-line fields. Géotechnique Lett. 1, 23–29 (2011).

    Google Scholar 

  • Anand, A. & Sarkar, R. A comprehensive investigation on bearing capacity of shallow foundations on unsaturated fly Ash slopes adopting finite element limit analysis. Eur. J. Environ. Civil Eng. 26, 6914–6940 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  • Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), R. C. ESRI ArcGIS Release 10.8. (2016).

  • Kumar, A., Anand, A., Singh, R. V., Kumar, R. & Gohil, M. Vegetation hydrology and slope interaction under variable infiltration: a state-of-the-art review. J. Infrastructure Preservation Resil. 6, 33 (2025).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, T. et al. Assessing the rainfall infiltration on FOS via a new NSRM for a case study at high rock slope stability. Sci. Rep. 12, 11917 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan, M. & Wang, S. Slope stability analysis to develop correlations between different soil parameters and factor of safety using regression analysis. Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 30, 4021–4030 (2021).

    Google Scholar 

  • Prakash, A., Hazra, B. & Sreedeep, S. Probabilistic analysis of unsaturated fly Ash slope. J Hazard. Toxic. Radioact Waste 23, (2019).

  • Anand, A. & Sarkar, R. Seismic bearing capacity of strip footing on partially saturated soil using modal response analysis. Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib. 21, 641–662 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, D. Q., Wang, L., Cao, Z. J. & Qi, X. H. Reliability analysis of unsaturated slope stability considering SWCC model selection and parameter uncertainties. Eng. Geol. 260, 105207 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  • GHANBARIAN-ALAVIJEH, B. & HUANG, L. I. A. G. H. A. T. A. VAN GENUCHTEN, M. Th. Estimation of the Van Genuchten soil water retention properties from soil textural data. Pedosphere 20, 456–465 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  • PADAMWAR, M. & POKHARKAR, V. Development of vitamin loaded topical liposomal formulation using factorial design approach: drug deposition and stability. Int. J. Pharm. 320, 37–44 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  • Roy, N., Sarkar, R. & Bharti, S. D. Relative influence of strength and geometric parameters on the behavior of jointed rock slopes. Arabian J. Geosciences 12, (2019).

  • Baecher, G. B. & Christian, J. T. Reliability and Statistics in Geotechnical Engineering (Wiley, 2005).

  • Continue Reading