Objectives:
Performance-based design (PBD) has become increasingly recognized as the most effective approach for designing and operating large open-pit slopes. Under PBD, slope behavior is continuously monitored – typically through total displacement and displacement velocity – and Trigger Action Response Plans (TARPs) are activated when thresholds are exceeded. When site-specific experience is limited, these initial thresholds are often based on observations from other mines. Modern monitoring technologies, including slope radar, LiDAR, InSAR, and advanced geodetic systems, now provide unprecedented resolution and frequency of slope deformation data, offering an opportunity to greatly enhance how slopes are assessed and managed.
This project focuses on improving the interpretation of monitoring data by establishing a clearer link between observed deformation patterns and the underlying geomechanical processes. The goal is to develop practical tools that help identify the likely slope deformation or failure mechanism directly from monitoring outputs, allowing engineers to initialize and calibrate numerical models more effectively. Ultimately, the project will deliver guidelines for interpreting monitoring data, particularly InSAR and pit radar data, and for associating these observations with specific geomechanical mechanisms.
The significance of the work lies in addressing a longstanding gap in PBD: although both monitoring technologies and numerical modeling have advanced rapidly, their combined use remains limited in open-pit practice. There are few established workflows in which monitoring data are systematically used to validate, calibrate, or update numerical models. Likewise, modeling results are rarely integrated into common monitoring platforms, preventing real-time or near-real-time feedback between measured behavior and predicted performance.
By promoting the convergence of monitoring and modeling, this project will help geotechnical engineers better interpret slope behavior, refine failure predictions, and support more reliable, mechanism-informed PBD strategies for open-pit slope management.