Q-Slope System for Assessing the Stability of Rock Slopes in Selected Area, Mergasur Town, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, NE Iraq

Abstract

Rock slope, slope height, rock discontinuity orientations, and undesigned excavated slopes are the primary contributing factors to the instability of the road in the mountain area. The eight rock slopes in Mergasur town, NE-Iraq, were chosen to be assessed for stability using the kinematic approach with DIPS v6.008 software to determine the type of slope failure and the Q-slope system applied to determine the stability condition. This is an efficient approach for classifying rock slope engineering. According to the kinematic results, stations 1–5 and 7 may have planar sliding, whereas stations 4–8 may experience wedge sliding, stations 1, 2, and 7-8 may experience flexural toppling, and station 3 may have direct toppling. In accordance with the Q-slope system results, stability conditions are determined by projecting the Q-slope and slope angle values on the Q-slope chart.