Abstract
Abstract. In hilly terrain, on account of both timber exploitation as well as severe storms, fallen tree trunks can begin to slide, thus constituting a source of danger for people and infrastructure. Any flexible rockfall protection system that is installed under such conditions should also be designed to withstand these unique loading conditions (falling trees). A series of tests was successfully conducted with free-falling trunks. The tests showed the behaviour of a rockfall protection system, also in comparison to similar rockfall events. Numerical simulations were performed to check performance against the field tests. It could be shown that barriers can be tested and designed for tree impacts according to similar rockfall impacts.
Highlights
The danger of being hit by falling trees is an imminent risk in steep areas posed by forestry work, unstable tree trunks, and storms
The flexible rockfall protection systems available on the market are tested only for the rockfall load case according to the Swiss (Gerber, 2001) or European (EOTA, 2008) guidelines
The rockfall test facility is located in an old quarry at Walenstadt, Switzerland, and is intended for type testing of rockfall protection systems according to Gerber (2001) and EOTA (2008)
Summary
The danger of being hit by falling trees is an imminent risk in steep areas posed by forestry work, unstable tree trunks, and storms. The flexible rockfall protection systems available on the market are tested only for the rockfall load case according to the Swiss (Gerber, 2001) or European (EOTA, 2008) guidelines. Barriers installed in the field are often subject to loads other than rockfall such as snow, soil, water and falling or sliding trees (see Volkwein et al, 2009; Volkwein and Toniolo, 2011). A flexible rockfall protection system wherein the protection net consists of loosely connected rings (see Volkwein, 2004) was tested with free-falling tree trunks in August 2005 at the rockfall protection test facility of the WSL (Gerber, 2001). Using the results of this test series, it is possible to evaluate whether standard or improved flexible rockfall barriers are suitable to protect from falling/sliding trees. The suitability of numerical modelling of the load case “falling trees” was considered as to whether it is a reasonable alternative to fullscale testing
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