Abstract
The Eurocode 7 or EC7 is the Reference Design Code (RDC) for geotechnical design including rock engineering design within the European Union (EU). Moreover, its principles have also been adopted by several other countries, becoming a key design standard for geotechnical engineering worldwide. It is founded on limit state design (LSD) concepts, and the reliability of design is provided mainly by a semi-probabilistic method based on partial factors. The use of partial factors is currently an advantage, mainly for the simplicity in its applicability, and a limitation, especially concerning geotechnical designs. In fact, the application of partial factors to geotechnical design has proven to be difficult. In this paper, the authors focus on the way to apply EC7 principles to rock engineering design by analyzing the design of rockfall protection structures as an example. A real case of slope subjected to rockfall is reported to outline the peculiarity connected to rock engineering. The main findings are related to the complementarity of the reliability-based design (RBD) approach within EC7 principles and the possibility of overcoming the limitations of a partial factor approach to this type of engineering problem.
Highlights
In mountain regions, rockfalls are one of the most dangerous landslide phenomena due to their high impacting energy and motion
The application of explicit reliability-based approaches (e.g., Monte Carlo simulation, first order reliability methods (FORM), and first order second moment (FOSM)) is permitted when application of partial factor approaches is inappropriate. As it seems that partial factor approaches are unlikely to be applicable for design analyses in rock engineering that need to account for the presence of specific discontinuities [19], this is a change of fundamental significance
Given that rock engineering practice continues largely to follow a deterministic path, in what follows, we examine how rock engineering would need to evolve in order to align with the principles of limit state design (LSD)
Summary
Rockfalls are one of the most dangerous landslide phenomena due to their high impacting energy and motion. Impact energy, are evaluated by using a stochastic approach to overcome the limitation of a deterministic approach and to allow for the computation of the probability of failure as an indicator of the structure risk. Tools to improve valuable quantitative data and how to use the first order reliability method (FORM) to quantify failure probability and overcome the limitations of partial factors are discussed. Their application to a real case of slope subjected to rockfall is reported to outline the peculiarity connected to rock engineering
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