Slope cutting is becoming more common in engineering construction to obtain a large floor area. Slope cutting disrupts a slope’s inherent stability, causing instability and sliding. To solve the problem of geological disasters caused by artificial slope cutting, Cangxi County is used as an example to analyze the cutting slope and the height of different slope structures in the county, to study the disaster mode and disaster factors caused by slope cutting, and to analyze the influence of slope cutting height and slope cutting gradient on the disaster process. This study demonstrates that the stability of cutting on different types of slopes is weakened to different degrees, with mixed rocky-soil slopes having the strongest resistance to weakening, thick-soil slopes the second strongest, and thin-soil slopes the weakest. Slope cutting is the main factor of disaster, and rainwater infiltration promotes landslide formation. Numerical simulation is employed to determine the proximities of the slope cutting height and slope cutting gradient, and 75% of the critical value is taken as the proposed threshold value of slope cutting. The recommended cut slope threshold value corresponds to the real stable cut slope gradient on site, and the research findings can be used to guide engineering cut slope decisions in Cangxi County and other red-layer areas.

The study on the failure difference of deep hard rock based on the comparison between conventional and true triaxial tests can help us better understand the fracture processes and failure characteristics of the deep rock mass. Therefore, this article carries out a comparative analysis of the failure of hard rock under conventional and true triaxial stress states. Within the scope of this study, it is found that the brittle–ductile transformation properties can be intuitively reflected in the rock stress–strain curve and failure mode. The brittle–ductile transition point of rock can also be determined by the difference between peak and residual strengths. The rock failure strength increases with the increase of σ2, the peak strain decreases with the increase of σ2, the stress drop of the post-peak curve becomes more obvious with the increase of σ2, and the rock tends toward Class II brittle failure after the peak with the increase of σ2. When σ3 is relatively high, the rock fracture angle increases with the increase of σ2 with obvious regularity. Compared with conventional triaxial stress conditions, the differential stress-induced anisotropy failure is the biggest difference in rock fracture characteristics between true and conventional triaxial stress states. This study can supply useful references to the study of failure properties of hard rock under complex stress states.

Rockburst plays a serious threat to personnel and equipment during underground engineering construction. The study of the rockburst mechanism is helpful to its prediction and prevention. Based on the characteristic analysis of a large number of rockburst cases, Li et al. proposed three stress-type and three stress-structural rockbursts and obtained the geological characteristics and occurrence criteria of these rockbursts, but the evolution process of rockbursts is still unclear. Based on the continuous-discontinuous element method, the characteristics of failure process, surrounding rock stress, motion, and energy of three stress-rockburst blocks are analyzed. The results show that rockburst failure generally goes through several stages, such as a few surfaces tensile failure, shallow shear failure, deep extension of tensile failure, shear failure communication, and rockburst occurrence. The total volume of rockburst blocks and the main distribution intervals of block diameters for different types of rockbursts are quite different, which are mainly affected by stress state and geological structure. The ejection velocity of the small block is always higher than that of the large block during the same one rockburst simulation, and the ejection velocity of the small block is from the surface. In the process of rockburst, not only the elastic strain energy is released but also the elastic strain energy is accumulated. The greater the rockburst intensity, the more the elastic strain energy is released, and the steeper the prepeak curve of elastic strain energy. The research results provide a reference for further understanding the mechanism of rockburst and lay a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of rockburst in underground engineering.