Abstract
Abstract. Rockfall protection embankments are ground levees designed to stop falling boulders. This paper investigates the behaviour of geocells to be used as components of these structures. Geocells, or cellular confinement systems, are composite structures associating a manufactured envelope with a granular geomaterial. Single cubic geocells were subjected to the impact resulting from dropping a spherical boulder. The geocells were filled with fine or coarse materials and different boundary conditions were applied on the lateral faces. The response is analysed in terms of the impact force and the force transmitted by the geocell to its rigid base. The influence on the geocell response of both the fill material and the cell boundary conditions is analysed. The aim was to identify the conditions resulting in greatest reduction of the transmitted force and also to provide data for the validation of a specific numerical model.
Highlights
Rockfalls are a major threat in mountainous regions for roads, railways, buildings and inhabitants
This study considers gabion cages with either fine or coarse granular noncohesive fill materials
Except in the case of stone cells in the FD conditions, the maximum transmitted force was higher than the maximum impact force, with a maximum ratio of 2. These results clearly show that both the boundary conditions and the fill material have a great influence on the cell response
Summary
Rockfalls are a major threat in mountainous regions for roads, railways, buildings and inhabitants. Infrastructures at risk can be protected against falling boulders with civil engineering structures placed down the slope to stop or deviate the boulder: shelters, metallic net fences or embankments. The choice between these different passive interventions is mainly based on the site topography and the energy of the falling boulder. Reinforcement inclusions are used to steepen the embankment slope exposed to impacts so as to prevent boulders from get over the structure. Their efficiency in stopping falling boulders mainly depends on their mass. As a consequence, setting up such structures requires large areas, a problem on mountainous sites
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