This study presents a novel method to evaluate the safety of open-pit slopes by means of three-dimensional numerical modeling with the finite difference method. The method presented here uses a block model as a vehicle to carry relevant information from the rock mass and automatically construct the numerical model. The results suggest that the method is promising because of its capacity to accurately incorporate a large amount of high-complexity rock data by considering spatial location and material behavior. It is expected that the innovations in this method will make the design, construction, and operation of open-pit iron mines safer and more economical.
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