Stability assessment of road rock slopes using seismic motions

Abstract

The authors are studying the possibility of early warning of rock mass collapse and monitoring of the precursor phenomena of rock mass slope failures in order to further improve road management and road safety. A remote automatic monitoring system using a high-precision 3D MEMS accelerometer was installed on a road slope of unstable bedrock in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, and a verification test is carried out to understand the effectiveness of the system and issues to be addressed and improved. The earthquake occurred at 1:08 a.m. on January 22, 2022 in the Kyushu region of Japan was measured, and a good result was received base on this test. The result of details of the evaluation of unstable rock slopes are reported in this paper. This experimental technology can be used for road maintenance management to determine the appropriate timing of countermeasure works and for safety management during construction. In the future, a more appropriate method of evaluating rock instability will be investigated without waiting for an earthquake to occur by measuring and analyzing vibration sources such as vehicle vibration.