Investigation on slope stability using monte carlo simulation: A case study of ULU jelai hydroelectric project

Abstract

Slope safety and its monitoring are major concern for dam owners, especially if the slopes are adjacent to public highway or roads that experiences increase in traffic volume each year. If no proper assessment and maintenances are being done, there is potential for loss of life of public users. Deterministic design methods for the slope stability often depends on the interpretation of the geotechnical investigations by the geologist and civil engineers involved with the project. This method usually adopts conventional value of ground parameters and which then gives large safety factors. By performing probabilistic approach by utilising Monte Carlo Simulation, designers or owners are more confident with the results given and it will help in the decision-making, such as in deciding the best solution for the long-term maintenance and monitoring of the slopes at critical area. This paper described the probabilistic procedure and gave a distribution of Factor of Safety (FOS) rather than only one single calculated FOS for that critical slopes. The case study for the paper is the Ulu Jelai’s dam located in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. The analysis is done using both excel and software. At the end, proper mitigation plans are proposed for the critical slopes [1]. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019.