Melentijevic Devetakovic, SvetlanaGutiérrez-Ch, J. G.Berisavljevic, ZoranGraterol, ElianaBerisavljevic, Dusan2025-05-142025-05-142025-04-25Melentijević, S., Gutiérrez-Ch., J. G., Berisavljević, Z., Graterol, E., & Berisavljević, D. (2025). Application of lem, fem and dem in stability analysis of highly jointed rock slopes. Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology, 12(5), 135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40515-025-00588-72196-720210.1007/s40515-025-00588-7https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/120112APC financiada por la UCM: para los acuerdos transformativos de la CRUE.Acknowledgements The authors express their gratitude to the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia for supporting scientific research (contract no. 451 - 03- 65/202-03/200126), and the Serbian Science and Diaspora Collaboration Program – project Rock slope stability - back analysis of failures along rock cuttings – ROCKSTAB (Grant number 6524757). Also, the Erasmus+ grant (EMADRID03) for the first author short term stay at the University of Belgrade is acknowledged. Since 2022, the fourth author received the scholarship for Ph.D. research provided by the José Entrecanales Ibarra Foundation. All received support is gratefully acknowledged.The comparative slope stability analysis of the highly fractured rock slope by three different methods is presented. The usually applied slope stability methods of the rock mass obeying the Hoek and Brown failure criterion comprises the limit equilibrium and/or the finite element method, quantifying the slope stability by the factor of safety. The better knowledge of the entire process of rock slope failure, i.e., the initiation, development of micro-cracks and final position of the failure surface, capturing large deformations, damage and breakage through the rock mass material could be achieved by the implementation of discrete element modeling. In this paper, the application of these three methods for the analysis of failed rock slope case study is shown. The analysis showed that all three methods produce similar results regarding the factor of safety value and position of the failure surface, being in line with the position of the failure surface observed in situ. The discrete element method gives the best prediction, providing a more in-depth knowledge of the failure, estimating the factor of safety by a new approach.engjournal article2196-7210https://doi.org/10.1007/s40515-025-00588-7https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40515-025-00588-7open access62:55624.12Rock slope stabilityCritical failure surfaceFactor of safetyLimit equilibrium methodFinite element methodDiscrete element methodGeodinámica3305.06 Ingeniería Civil2506.03 Geología Aplicada a la Ingeniería