Abstract
Abstract. Rock fall hazard assessment and hazard mapping are essential for the risk management of vulnerable areas. This paper analyses some issues concerning fragmental rock fall hazard mapping methodologies. Two Swiss approaches based on rock fall trajectory simulations results are presented. An application to a site in Switzerland emphasises the differences in the results, uncertainties related to hazard zoning procedures and the influence of some factors on the mapping process. In particular, the influence of a change in the temporal rock fall frequency, of the longer propagation along the slope of only a few computed blocks (defined in this sense as "extreme blocks") and of the number of runs performed in trajectory modelling have been studied. Results are discussed with the purpose of achieving a more reliable and objective hazard analysis. The presented considerations are based on the Swiss Federal Guidelines, but many of them could be extended to other countries that evaluate rock fall hazard using an intensity-frequency diagram.
Highlights
Rock falls threaten several mountainous areas in many countries in Europe, as well as worldwide
This work has dealt with three hazard mapping methodologies, based on rock fall trajectory simulations that were developed according to the Swiss Federal Guidelines
This study presents some considerations on the rock fall hazard mapping process
Summary
Rock falls threaten several mountainous areas in many countries in Europe, as well as worldwide. The analysis of current available procedures underlines that one of the most difficult challenges in rock fall hazard assessment is to estimate the time recurrence of the events and the associated magnitude (Corominas and Moya, 2008) For this purpose, magnitude-frequency relationships have been proposed to define an association between the rock fall volume and its probability of failure (Hungr et al, 1999; Dussauge at al., 2002; Hantz et al, 2003; Chau et al, 2003). This work has dealt with three hazard mapping methodologies, based on rock fall trajectory simulations that were developed according to the Swiss Federal Guidelines.
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