Three-dimensional stability analysis of slopes under complex terrain from FLAC3D and electrical resistivity tomography

• Published in: Journal of applied geophysics Vol. 241; p. 105861
• Main Authors: Li, Jinghe, Wu, Chenglong, Bai, Hanying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.10.2025
• Subjects: Complex geological model; Electrical resistivity tomography; FLAC3D; Slope stability analysis; Slope stability analysis; Electrical resistivity tomography; FLAC3D; Complex geological model
• ISSN: 0926-9851
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2025.105861

The construction of complex geological objects is of critical importance to three-dimensional (3D) quantitative stability analysis of slopes using FLAC3D. In this work, we utilize electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) combined with drilling to obtain the engineering geological profile for complex slope stability analysis. The required 3D geological strata are calculated by using spatial interpolation based on the engineering geological profile in Matlab platform, which provides high efficiency and accuracy of complex slope model construction. The ERT provides effective information on the resistivity structure of the slope, which aims to invert electrokinetic current sources generated by the sliding interface. Based on the results of the ERT method combined with drilling, we construct a accurate realistic complex 3D slope model in southern China. The numerical results of the realistic 3D model calculated using FLAC3D, coincide well with the field monitoring data. This case demonstrates the effectiveness of combining FLAC3D and ERT for characterizing the stability of complex slopes. •ERT-based 3D stability analysis has been proposed for slopes under complex terrain from FLAC3D.•New 3D geological modeling algorithm has been proposed for FLAC3D.•Numerical experiment of the applications in realistic quantitative stability analysis has been shown.•Efficiency of ERT-based 3D stability analysis has been demonstrated by typical slope case studies.