Model Experiment and Numerical Analysis of Rock-fall Protective Soil Embankment to Understand Rock Fall Trapping Performance

Abstract

This study researches rock fall trapping performance of a rock-fall protective soil embankment protection method. A rock-fall protective soil embankment protection method is excellent in economy, workability, and maintainability. It can use soil generated on site if there is installation space. The current design manual, Rock Fall Countermeasures Manual, however, only describes the concept of rockfall energy absorption and dispersion mechanisms when designing a rock-fall protective soil embankment. The manual does not consider deformation and fracture modes when evaluating performance. To understand rock fall trapping performance of a rock-fall protective soil embankment, this study performed an experiment to confirm the behavior of a 500 mm height soil embankment model. The study also performed analysis to reproduce the experiment using the two-dimensional discrete element method (2D-DEM).