Application of a Probabilistic Method Based on Neutrosophic Number in Rock Slope Stability Assessment

Abstract

The stability of natural rock slopes is influenced by a wide spectrum of factors, such as mechanical properties of bedrocks and spatial distribution of discontinuities. Their specific values are typically incomplete, due mainly to the lack of effective and comprehensive methods to accurately characterize these factors, especially those inside of the slopes. The neutrosophic number is a useful tool to solve problems in indeterminate environment. This study introduces the neutrosophic theory into slope stability assessment. A vector similarity measure developed under neutrosophic environment was employed to establish a stability assessment method considering multilevel attributes of slopes. Using this method, the level of stability for studied slopes, i.e., stable, mostly stable, less stable, and instable, was determined by computing the relation indices. The method was applied to a group of rock slopes located in Zhejiang province, China, and the calculated results were compared with the reality of in situ survey. The field application showed that the developed method has a good efficiency and precision in assessing the stability of rock slopes. The obtained weight vector can reveal the key influential parameters that inherently control the stability of rock slopes.

Keywords

• rock slope stability assessment
• probabilistic method
• neutrosophic number
• vector similarity measure
• multiattribute classification