Abstract:
Rockfall cases are a natural and dynamic
geologic process, commonly occur within mountainous areas
near by the cliffs undercut by human for developing building
or highway infrastructures. These paper objectives were to;
(i) identification of slope surface parameters and simulating
of rockfall trajectory, (ii) identification of rockfall risk
zones, and (iii) mitigation of the rockfall risk zones.
Manmade slope in the quarry at the Kloch, Austria was
chosen as the case study in this paper. Seven Kloch slope
surface parameters were identified, including; dynamic and
static friction angles, normal and tangential damping, rolling
resistance, amplitude of roughness, and frequency of
roughness. Based on the simulation results, it was identified
that the rocfall would yield the kinetic energy of 230 kJ, and
the bouncing height was 0.5 m. This paper also identified the
distance of rock blocks run-out on the flat ground near the
slope toe (rockfall risk zones). The rockfall zones were then
divided into 3 areas, e.i ; red zone, yellow zone, and green
zone or safe area. The distance of red zone was 5.0-12.5 m
from the x axis of the slope, yellow one was 12.5-17.5 m, and
green one was > 17.5 m. Hence, in order to protect the red
and yellow zones from the rockfall risks, it is recommended
to construct a barrier located at a distance of 7.0 m form the
x axis of the slope, with a minimum height of 1.0 m. The
barrier type was proposed as a retaining wall (with a
capacity to restrain the rockfall kinetic energy up to 500 kJ).
