Flexural Toppling Failure in Rock Slopes: From Theory to Applications

Toppling failure is one of the most common modes of failure of rock slopes in layered rock strata. Flexural toppling is one of the well-known modes of the failure. This type of failure occurs due to bending stress. In this article, a brief yet comprehensive review of toppling failure is presented. Firstly, the conditions and general mechanism of the failure are described. Then, experimental, theoretical and numerical modeling of the failure is summarized. Next, several case histories are analyzed and the results with the existing theoretical models were compared and presented. Finally, some practical recommendations as how to use these models are made.