Spill Width

The Spill Width Parameters option is only applicable in conjunction with the Bench Design option and allows you to customize parameters that are used to calculate the spill width of a failed wedge.

When an individual wedge fails, in practice, the result is a volume of failed material that comes to rest at the base of a slope or bench. The failed material typically forms a conical or pyramidal shaped pile, the extent of which can be estimated by various methods. In RocPlane, a two-dimensional spill width calculation is used to estimate the extent of the failed pile of material. This spill width is used in the Bench Design option to determine the bench width necessary to contain the spill (i.e., the minimum required bench width). This can be plotted with the Minimum Bench Width Plot in the Bench Design sub-menu in the Statistics menu. For more information, see Tutorial 06 - Bench Design in RocPlane and Persistence and Bench Design in the RocPlane Theory Documents.

To customize spill width parameters, select Spill Width Parameters from the Analysis menu. You can change the following parameters:

• Swelling Factor
• Angle of Repose of Failed Material

NOTE: Default values are in effect. It is not necessary to enter values unless you wish to change the default values.

These parameters are used to calculate the spill width for a failed wedge based on:

• Wedge volume
• Bench face angle