Thermal stress effect on near-surface failure of rock slopes

The variation of geotemperature is a important factors which influence the process of near surface weathering and shallow failure. In rock slopes, the geotemperature, varying with different time in a day and seasons in a year, is characterized by cyclic variation. It induces alternating thermal stress near surface of slopes, and may result in fatigue failure of near surface rock-masses. In this paper, a approach of numerical simulation of geotemperatue and thermal stress is suggested, by which, a typical example is analyzed. Furthermore, the mechanism and criterion of fatigue failure of near-surface rockmasses are discussed.