Abstract: In highway engineering construction, natural slopes often face different excavation options. Cutting excavation and tunnel excavation are proposed in the slope design of a project. To select a reasonable excavation option and construct the slope with more stable and safer after the excavation, the stability of the original slope and the slope under two different excavation and support plans are evaluated by using a two-dimensional numerical simulation method. Furthermore, the stress and deformation characteristics of the two excavation options are compared. The analysis and evaluation results show that: for the excavation tunnel option, the factor of safety for the tunnel without support is low and prone to failure. The factor of safety meets the code requirements after the support measures were implemented, but there is still a risk of tensile failure above the tunnel arch. For the cutting excavation option, the overall deformation of the rock mass around the highway is small and the stress and strain are all in the safe range. The factor of safety of this slope meets the code requirements. Therefore, it is more reasonable to determine the engineering slope for cutting excavation.

Key words: Slope, Support, Numerical Simulation, Factor of Safety, Excavation Selections