This paper proposes an analytical approach for assessing rock slope stability based on a three-dimensional (3D) Hoek–Brown (HB) criterion to consider the effects of intermediate principal stress. The 3D HB criterion, considering an associate flow rule, is utilized to describe the perfectly plastic behavior of rock mass under a plane strain condition. To reflect the change of friction angle on the failure surface, the potential failure surface (PFS) is divided into small segments with each segment being assigned a unique friction angle. The upper bound theorem of limit analysis is combined with the strength reduction method to determine the factor of safety (FOS) of a rock slope with a defined PFS. By optimizing the PFS, the minimum FOS and the critical failure surface (CFS) of the rock slope are obtained by the customized genetic algorithm. The proposed approach is validated by comparing it with an HB criterion-based solution and numerical simulations. Parametric studies are also performed to investigate the effects of rock mass properties, slope geometry, and loading conditions on the FOS and CFS. The results indicate that ignoring the 3D strength of rock leads to underestimation of FOS and it is important to consider the various factors when evaluating the stability of a rock slope. For the effortless application of the proposed approach, a Python-based graphical-user-interface application is developed as a stand-alone executable app and is successfully applied to analyze a rock slope.

本文提出了一种基于三维 (3D) Hoek–Brown (HB) 准则的岩石边坡稳定性评估分析方法，以考虑中间主应力的影响。考虑关联流动规则的 3D HB 准则用于描述平面应变条件下岩体的完美塑性行为。为了反映失效面上摩擦角的变化，潜在失效面（PFS）被分成小段，每个段被分配一个唯一的摩擦角。极限分析的上限定理与强度折减法相结合，以确定具有定义的 PFS 的岩石边坡的安全系数 (FOS)。通过优化PFS，通过定制的遗传算法获得岩石边坡的最小FOS和临界破坏面（CFS）。通过将其与基于 HB 准则的解决方案和数值模拟进行比较，验证了所提出的方法。还进行了参数化研究，以研究岩体特性、边坡几何形状和加载条件对 FOS 和 CFS 的影响。结果表明，忽略岩石的 3D 强度会导致低估 FOS，在评估岩石边坡的稳定性时考虑各种因素很重要。为了轻松应用所提出的方法，基于 Python 的图形用户界面应用程序被开发为独立的可执行应用程序，并成功应用于分析岩石边坡。FOS 和 CFS 上的斜坡几何形状和负载条件。结果表明，忽略岩石的 3D 强度会导致低估 FOS，在评估岩石边坡的稳定性时考虑各种因素很重要。为了轻松应用所提出的方法，基于 Python 的图形用户界面应用程序被开发为独立的可执行应用程序，并成功应用于分析岩石边坡。FOS 和 CFS 上的斜坡几何形状和负载条件。结果表明，忽略岩石的 3D 强度会导致低估 FOS，在评估岩石边坡的稳定性时考虑各种因素很重要。为了轻松应用所提出的方法，基于 Python 的图形用户界面应用程序被开发为独立的可执行应用程序，并成功应用于分析岩石边坡。