Finite Element Modeling for Stability Assessment of Sedimentary Rock Slopes

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is helpful for engineering design regarding the stability assessment of rock slopes. However, it needs a major revision before it can be recommended for publication.

1. in Abstract part. What is the meaning for the first sentence “CV. Bara Mitra Kencana is a company engaged in coal mining”? Please delete it.

2. In Introduction part. “The slope is divided into 2, artificial slope and natural slope”. Is there something wrong for this description? Please check all the description.

 3. Please explain the meaning of Index strength and De in detail in Point Load Index Testing part. Is the Index strength used in numerical simulation?

4. In Figure 7, three layers are shown by three different colors in the material characteristics. But the names of materials are not marked in Figure 7.

5. It is not clear how to determine the critical failure stage of slope?

6. The authors are invited to rewrite the conclusion part. It should be a main conclusion instead of some date in  different stages. It looks like a report instead of academic paper.

7. There are lots of errors of “Reference source not found”. (e.g. Line 96 of Page 2; Line 114 of Page 3; Line 154 of Page 5; Lines 159 and 166 of Page 6; Lines 177, 184 and 189 of Page 7; Lines 198 and 208 of Page 8; Lines 213 and 227 of Page 9)

Comments on the Quality of English Language

It is required to polish the English writing of this manuscript. There are some grammar error. And some expression are not well presented.

Author Response

Matrix of Revision

Reviewer 1

No	Comments	Revision
1.	in Abstract part. What is the meaning for the first sentence “CV. Bara Mitra Kencana is a company engaged in coal mining”? Please delete it.	(CV. Bara Mitra Kencana, has deleted line 13) and added the opening sentence “To prevent landslides, the slope is a crucial component that needs to be evaluated”.
2.	In Introduction part. “The slope is divided into 2, artificial slope and natural slope”. Is there something wrong for this description? Please check all the description.	(line 36-40) “The slope is divided into two, artificial slope and natural slope. The ability of a slope to tolerate or experience movement is indicated by the stability of its slope. An artificial slope is an incline or decline in the ground that is created by humans for various purposes. Unlike natural slopes formed by geological processes, artificial slopes are intentionally constructed to meet specific needs”.
3.	Please explain the meaning of Index strength and De in detail in Point Load Index Testing part. Is the Index strength used in numerical simulation?	(line 134-141) “The index strength (Is) in a point load test is a measure of the rock's strength. It is a value that is acquired by applying an increasingly concentrated stress through a certain device to a rock specimen until the rock fractures. The comparable core diameter is De in this context. It's a standard diameter (usually 50 mm) that's used to compare findings from point load tests. De contributes to a consistent interpretation of the test findings because the size of rock cores can vary. The strength index is used in numerical simulations as an input parameter for the strength of the rocks that make up the slope”.
4.	In Figure 7, three layers are shown by three different colors in the material characteristics. But the names of materials are not marked in Figure 7.	(line 255 in Figure 7 has been repaired)
5.	It is not clear how to determine the critical failure stage of slope?	(line 169-173 has been repaired)
6.	The authors are invited to rewrite the conclusion part. It should be a main conclusion instead of some date in  different stages. It looks like a report instead of academic paper.	(line 345-373)
7.	There are lots of errors of “Reference source not found”. (e.g. Line 96 of Page 2; Line 114 of Page 3; Line 154 of Page 5; Lines 159 and 166 of Page 6; Lines 177, 184 and 189 of Page 7; Lines 198 and 208 of Page 8; Lines 213 and 227 of Page 9)	(errors has repaired)

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please refer to the file of 'safety-3071142 Comments01.pdf'.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

none

Author Response

 Reviewer 2

 

1.	The statement in the abstract, "CV. Bara Mitra Kencana is a company engaged in coal mining. " should be removed, as it is not related to the main text.	(CV. Bara Mitra Kencana, has deleted line 13) and added the opening sentence “To prevent landslides, the slope is a crucial component that needs to be evaluated”.
2.	There are numerous grammatical issues in some sentences, such as: "Crucial: The factor that must be taken into account when" "preventive actions can be done following a slope simulation. in order to prevent mishaps" "The sample that was utilized is not usual. keeping the D/W ratio in mind" "The most common kind isotropic. where". Please review and correct these sentences.	Has described in Lines 170-173 (Crucial factor)   D/W ratio has described in lines (129-131)   prevent mishaps has changed with prevent landslide. “line 87-88”   Kind isotropic has described in line 237-239 (The elastic type is the most common isotropic. Where the functional parameters remain constant in all directions. The isotropic elastic type in this study is at the value of Modulus Young = 20,000 kPa and Poisson Ratio = 0.3.)
3.	There are multiple instances of "Error! Reference source not found." in the main text. These errors have greatly affected the readability of the manuscript for this reviewer.	All error references has been repaired.
4.	Line 158: "Is MPa" is presented in Table 1. However, the full name of this term should be given in the text first. Similar issues exist with the symbol ‘De2’ in line 127.	Index strength (Is)  has described in lines 35-38. “The index strength (Is) in a point load test is a measure of the rock's strength. It is a value that is acquired by applying an increasingly concentrated stress through a certain device to a rock specimen until the rock fractures. The unit of Index strength (Is) is MPa (Megapascal)”.   De has described in lines 38-40 “The comparable core diameter is De in this context. It's a standard diameter (usually 50 mm) that's used to compare findings from point load tests. De contributes to a consistent interpretation of the test findings because the size of rock cores can vary.
5.	Tables 6, 7, and 8 should be reorganized into a single table. Additionally, the column containing "c phi tanphi sinphi" should be removed since the values are the same in all rows.	Table 6,7,8 has been made into a single table in Table 6. C, Phi, tan phi, and sin phi have also removed.
6.	Authors are missing in references 5, 10, and 18. Furthermore, references 10 and 19 are the same. Please check and correct this. The page number is also missing in reference 20.	All references have repaired.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

See the comments in the attached file. It should be noted that the paper needs to be analyzed using appropriate statistical tools, not just based on the average and standard deviation.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are many flaws in the writing, and the paper should be thoroughly revised.

Author Response

Reviewer 3

1.	"CV. Bara Mitra Kencana is a company engaged in coal mining. " should be removed, as it is not related to the main text.	(CV. Bara Mitra Kencana, has deleted line 13) and added the opening sentence “To prevent landslides, the slope is a crucial component that needs to be evaluated”.
2.	divided into 2.	Has been changed into “divided into two” in line 36
3.	There are many other factors besides those listed, so I would ask you to supplement or remove this sentence.	Has been remove this sentence.
4.	Talk a bit about risk analysis and probability of failure	Has been added in line 54-56 “Failure risk analysis is the process of determining the probability of landslides and the potential losses they cause. This analysis is important to be carried out in areas prone to landslides, such as steep slopes, areas with high rainfall, and areas with high geological activity”.
5.	I don't understand why you said that. It seems lost to me!	Has been repaired and added in lines 74-76. ”Sedimentary rocks are the materials used in this study. Sedimentary rocks are a type of rock that is formed as a result of the deposition and compaction of loose materials on the earth's surface”.
6.	Why didn't they analyze it in three dimensions?	Because RS2 is a two-dimensional software for displacement and stress analysis that blends contour element and finite element analysis methods. Line 82-84.
7.	Country	In line 94 has repaired ” . Located in Tanah Kuning, Batu Tanjung Village, Talawi District, Sawahlunto City, Indonesia”
8.	From young to adult	”dendritic flow from youngest to oldest phases” has repaired line 97
9.	Intrusive Rocks, Sedimentary Rocks	Has been merged in Geology setting.
10.	Figure 2	Has called in line 115
11.	Are the quantities of samples used in the tests representative of the area? Clarify!	the quantities of samples used in the tests are representative of the area (as described in lines 128-129).
12.	Mean in table	Mean has changed by  ”average”
13.	Mpa in table	Has been repaired ”MPa)
14.	Density	Has been changed into Specific mass in line 224-225.
15.	Why this value? Is there a standard that recommends this value?	Yes, the uniform load used is 55 kPa. The uniform distribution represents a constant load across a specific range. In lines 239-241.
16.	What was the authors' intention in analyzing the deformations? What are the values obtained related to?	Has described in lines 170-171 the author's intention of FoS “The slope is in critical condition when (FoS = 1), the slope is in stable condition when (FoS >1), and the Slope is in an unstable condition when (FoS <1)”. In 269-270 about deformation “In addition, deformation or maximum displacement is the safe limit of movement that is allowed in the field to see signs of landslides”.
17.	The conclusions read like a summary of the results obtained. The authors should rewrite it so that it really shows the conclusions.	Has Repaired in line 342-371

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

It's an interesting article about stability of natural and artificial slopes, but it must be revised. Some remarks:

 1. Abstract should start with introducing sentences not with the company name.

 2. Line 18 - "for" small letter

 3. Displacement and other numbers - they must be represented with the same number of decimal places - check line 19 - "0" and line 20 "0,214" - it should be "0.000" By the way maybe it's to accurate? Maybe one decimal place is enough?

 4. Even in the abstract sometimes there is "m" and sometimes "meters" - unify it.

 5. Line 23 "SRF is 1.31. 0.864 meters" - A sentence can't start with a number.

 6. Line 24 - there is comma instead of full stop - 1,614

 7. Line 29 - Factor of Safety (SOF) - explain the abbreviation

 8. Line 31 - keywords should be revised -: finite element method, displacement of what? stability of what? natural slope, artificial slope, ...

 9. Line 34 -All numbers less than 10 must be spelled out - into two

 10. finite element method (FEM) - small letters VS Shear Strength Reduction (SRR) - capital letters - unify it

 11. Line 91 "go 6 kilometres ±+ ??maybe about or approximately would be better

 12. Line 96, 114, 154, 156, and many, many, many other!!!! (Error! Reference source not found.)!!! This is unacceptable

  13. Figure 1 - this colourful zoom in pictures are too small, illegibly, hard to read the scale

 14. Formulas 1, 2, 3 etc - "whereas" explain tau, sigma and others, add unit,

 15. Line 123 - D/W - diameter/width? explain

 16. Figures 4,5,6, 9 - add grids

 17. Irregular sample ?? is it Is? line 154

 18. standard deviation (SD) - above table 1.

 19. Figure 7, 8 - replace it with a much better figure. I recommend create a new figure with pictures in one column to make them bigger -the scale is illegible.

 20. What about parameters of FEM model between layers? between rocks and coal? They must be shown.

 21. Figure 13 - "at each point”? explain and relate with fig. 12 or other

 22. Figures 7-12 - what size of the model was? add dimensions.

 

Author Response

Reviewer 4

No	Comments	Revision
1.	Abstract should start with introducing sentences not with the company name. company name has been deleted	in (line 13) has been repaired
2.	Line 18 - "for" small letter	in (line 19) has been repaired
3.	Displacement and other numbers - they must be represented with the same number of decimal places - check line 19 - "0" and line 20 "0,214" - it should be "0.000" By the way maybe it's to accurate? Maybe one decimal place is enough?	(has changed with one decimal) The comma has been replaced with the point for the number of decimals.
4.	Even in the abstract sometimes there is "m" and sometimes "meters" - unify it.	Has changed with “m” all.
5.	Line 23 "SRF is 1.31. 0.864 meters" - A sentence can't start with a number.	Has changed with the narration before the number.
6.	Line 24 - there is comma instead of full stop - 1,614	(comma has been repaired)
7.	Line 29 - Factor of Safety (SOF) - explain the abbreviation	(has explained in line 29)
8.	. Line 31 - keywords should be revised -: finite element method, displacement of what? stability of what? natural slope, artificial slope, ...	in (lines 32-33) has been repaired
9.	Line 34 -All numbers less than 10 must be spelled out - into two	(has corrected in line 36)
10.	finite element method (FEM) - small letters VS Shear Strength Reduction (SRR) - capital letters - unify it	(has corrected be a capital letter)
11.	Line 91 "go 6 kilometres ±+ ??maybe about or approximately would be better	(has corrected be approximately)
12.	Line 96, 114, 154, 156, and many, many, many other!!!! (Error! Reference source not found.)!!! This is unacceptable	(all errors have been repaired)
13.	Figure 1 - this colourful zoom in pictures are too small, illegibly, hard to read the scale	(figure 1 has been corrected in line 102)
14.	Formulas 1, 2, 3 etc - "whereas" explain tau, sigma and others, add unit,	(has repaired in lines 161-168)
15.	Line 123 - D/W - diameter/width? Explain	(as explained in lines 128-131)
16.	Figures 4,5,6, 9 - add grids	(grid has been added in figure 4,5,6,9)
17.	Irregular sample ?? is it Is? line 154	(irregular sample different with Is. The definition of Irregular sample has been added in line 128)
18.	standard deviation (SD) - above table 1.	(has corrected SD in each table)
19.	Figure 7, 8 - replace it with a much better figure. I recommend create a new figure with pictures in one column to make them bigger -the scale is illegible.	(Figures 7 and 8 Have replaced the figure into a new figure in one column).
20.	What about parameters of FEM model between layers? between rocks and coal? They must be shown.	(Has been shown in lines 315-321)
21.	Figure 13 - "at each point”? explain and relate with fig. 12 or other	(has explained in lines 334-341)
22.	Figures 7-12 - what size of the model was? add dimensions.	(size of model in Line 234-235 and line 255 figure 7).

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors responds all my comments. I have no other question. Please check all the English expression.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English writing is fine. Meanwhile, please check the English writing once more in case of any grammar mistakes.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

The following author attaches the final revision of the article, the results of the revision have been highlighted in the manuscript. Thank you

Best Regard
DR. Yongxiang Ge
Refky Adi Nata 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

please refer to the file of 'safety-3071142R1 Comments03.pdf'.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

The following author attaches the final revision of the article, the results of the revision have been highlighted in the manuscript. Thank you

Best Regard
DR. Yongxiang Ge
Refky Adi Nata 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Check the formatting of table 6.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

The following author attaches the final revision of the article, the results of the revision have been highlighted in the manuscript. Thank you

Best Regard
DR. Yongxiang Ge
Refky Adi Nata 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Revised version of the manuscript should be accepted.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

The following author attaches the final revision of the article, the results of the revision have been highlighted in the manuscript. Thank you

Best Regard
DR. Yongxiang Ge
Refky Adi Nata 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have no other comments.

Author Response

Comments 1: in Abstract part. What is the meaning for the first sentence “CV. Bara Mitra Kencana is a company engaged in coal mining”? Please delete it.

Response 1: (CV. Bara Mitra Kencana, has deleted line 13) and added the opening sentence “To prevent landslides, the slope is a crucial component that needs to be evaluated”.

Comments 2: In Introduction part. “The slope is divided into 2, artificial slope and natural slope”. Is there something wrong for this description? Please check all the description.

Response 2: (line 36-40) “The slope is divided into two, artificial slope and natural slope. The ability of a slope to tolerate or experience movement is indicated by the stability of its slope. An artificial slope is an incline or decline in the ground that is created by humans for various purposes. Unlike natural slopes formed by geological processes, artificial slopes are intentionally constructed to meet specific needs”.

 

Comments 3: Please explain the meaning of Index strength and De in detail in Point Load Index Testing part. Is the Index strength used in numerical simulation?

Response 3: 

(line 133-141) “The index strength (Is) in a point load test is a measure of the rock's strength. It is a value that is acquired by applying an increasingly concentrated stress through a certain device to a rock specimen until the rock fractures. The comparable core diameter is De in this context. It's a standard diameter (usually 50 mm) that's used to compare findings from point load tests. De contributes to a consistent interpretation of the test findings because the size of rock cores can vary. The strength index is used in numerical simulations as an input parameter for the strength of the rocks that make up the slope”.

Comments 4: In Figure 7, three layers are shown by three different colors in the material characteristics. But the names of materials are not marked in Figure 7.

Response 4: (line 260 in Figure 7 has been repaired)

Comments 5: It is not clear how to determine the critical failure stage of slope?

Response 5: (line 256-258 has been repaired)

Comments 6: The authors are invited to rewrite the conclusion part. It should be a main conclusion instead of some date in  different stages. It looks like a report instead of academic paper.

Response 6: (line 352-380) has rewritten the conclusion part.

Comments 7: There are lots of errors of “Reference source not found”. (e.g. Line 96 of Page 2; Line 114 of Page 3; Line 154 of Page 5; Lines 159 and 166 of Page 6; Lines 177, 184 and 189 of Page 7; Lines 198 and 208 of Page 8; Lines 213 and 227 of Page 9)

Response 7: (errors have been repaired)

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please refer to the file of "safety-3071142R2 Comments04.pdf".

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Comments 1: "CV. Bara Mitra Kencana is a company engaged in coal mining. " should be removed, as it is not related to the main text.

Response 1: (CV. Bara Mitra Kencana, has deleted line 13) and added the opening sentence “To prevent landslides, the slope is a crucial component that needs to be evaluated”. 

Comments 2: divided into 2.

Response 2: Has been changed into “divided into two” in line 36

Comments 3: There are many other factors besides those listed, so I would ask you to supplement or remove this sentence.

Response 3: Has been remove this sentence.

Comments 4: Talk a bit about risk analysis and probability of failure

Response 4: Has been added in line 54-57 “Failure risk analysis is the process of determining the probability of landslides and the potential losses they cause. This analysis is important to be carried out in areas prone to landslides, such as steep slopes, areas with high rainfall, and areas with high geological activity”.

Comments 5: I don't understand why you said that. It seems lost to me

Response 5: Has been repaired and added in lines 74-76. ”Sedimentary rocks are the materials used in this study. Sedimentary rocks are a type of rock that is formed as a result of the deposition and compaction of loose materials on the earth's surface”.

Comments 6: Why didn't they analyze it in three dimensions?

Response 6: Because RS2 is a two-dimensional software for displacement and stress analysis that blends contour element and finite element analysis methods. Line 82-84.

Comments 7: Country

Response 7: In line 94 has repaired ” . Located in Tanah Kuning, Batu Tanjung Village, Talawi District, Sawahlunto City, Indonesia”

Comments 8: From young to adult

Response 8: ”dendritic flow from youngest to oldest phases” has repaired line 97

Comments 9: Intrusive Rocks, Sedimentary Rocks

Renponse 9: Has been merged in Geology setting.

Comments 10: Figure 2

Response 10: Has called in line 117

Comments 11: Are the quantities of samples used in the tests representative of the area? Clarify!

Response 11: the quantities of samples used in the tests are representative of the area (as described in lines 130-131).

Comments 12: Mean in table

Response 12: Mean has changed by  ”average”

Comments 13: Mpa in table

Response 13: Has been repaired ”MPa

Comments 14: Density

Response 14: Has been changed into Specific mass in line 228-230.

Comments 15: Why this value? Is there a standard that recommends this value?

Response 15: Yes, the uniform load used is 55 kPa. The uniform distribution represents a constant load across a specific range. In lines 246.

Comments 16: What was the authors' intention in analyzing the deformations? What are the values obtained related to?

Response 16: Has described in lines 256-258 the author's intention of FoS “The slope is in critical condition when (FoS = 1), the slope is in stable condition when (FoS >1), and the Slope is in an unstable condition when (FoS <1)”. In 273-276 about deformation “In addition, deformation or maximum displacement is the safe limit of movement that is allowed in the field to see signs of landslides”.

Comments 17: The conclusions read like a summary of the results obtained. The authors should rewrite it so that it really shows the conclusions

Response 17: Has been repaired in line 352-380.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 4

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Unfortunately, the references still have not been revised.

The authors are missing in reference [10].

The authors are missing in reference [19].

The pages are missing in reference [20].

References [10] and [19] are the same. Please remove one of them.

These revisions have been commented in the attached file of ‘safety-3071142-peer-review-v4 commented.pdf’.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Author Response

Comments 1: in line 99 "268 m"

Response 1: has been changed with "268m"

Comments 2: References in line 153 [18].

Response 2: has been delete.

Comments 3: Figure 4 in line 184.

Response 3: Cross references has been changed.

Comments 4: "siltstone's" in line 207.

Response 4: has been changed by siltstones.

Comments 5: "in" in line 238.

Response 5: "in" has been delete.

Comments 6: in line 265 " 1.6 m"

Response 6: Keep 1.6 m not 16 m as the result of stage 7 in figure 8 is 1.614 m or 1.6 m.

Comments 7: in line 281 "1.6 m".

Response 7: keep "1.6 m" as result of graphic in figure 9.

Comments 8: in line 299 there is a part of table "point" should merge cells

Response 8: has been changed.

Comments 9: seam's in line 213.

Response 9: has been changed by "seams".

Comments 10: "The" in line 317

Response 10: has been changed "the".

Comments 11: "at" in line 335

Response 11: "at" has been delete.

comments 12: "The" in line 335

Response 12: has been changed by "the"

Comments 13: "The" in line 363

Response 13: has been changed by "the".

Comments 14: References in 435.

Response 14: has been delete

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx