Abstract
This work concerns the impact of dry granular masses on rigid artificial obstacles. The authors approached the problem by performing an extensive campaign of numerical analyses with a commercial code based on the discrete element theory. The standard approaches employed to design sheltering structures are exclusively based on the assessment of the Maximum Impact Force (MIF) exerted by the soil mass on the obstacle, and the sheltering structure is usually designed according to simplified pseudo-static approaches. In a previous paper the authors considered the dependence of MIF on the Froude number and on a large series of both geometrical and mechanical parameters. Indeed, the impulsive nature of the force exerted by the soil onto the structure has to be considered in order to optimize the design of this type of structures. For this reason in this paper the evolution with time of the impact force and the mechanics of the phenomenon are investigated.
Highlights
Among the several aspects that have to be considered for landslide risk assessment, the work developed in the last years by the Authors is mainly focussed on the comprehension/modelling of the mechanical processes developing when the landslide interacts with either civil structures or protection works
Standard approaches employed to design sheltering structures are exclusively based on the assessment of the Maximum Impact Force (MIF) exerted by the soil mass on the obstacle, since the sheltering structure is usually designed according to simple pseudo-static approaches
According to HS models ([2],[3], [4]), the MIF value is independent of the soil mass velocity and the pressure is linearly dependent on depth; according to HD models ([3], [4], [5], [6], [7]) the pressure is assumed to be constant with depth and dependent on the average mass velocity
Summary
Among the several aspects that have to be considered for landslide risk assessment, the work developed in the last years by the Authors is mainly focussed on the comprehension/modelling of the mechanical processes developing when the landslide interacts with either civil structures or protection works. Standard approaches employed to design sheltering structures are exclusively based on the assessment of the Maximum Impact Force (MIF) exerted by the soil mass on the obstacle, since the sheltering structure is usually designed according to simple pseudo-static approaches. Existing classical approaches employed to design sheltering structures are inspired to: (i) impacts of fluid masses onto rigid barriers [1], which can be subdivided in hydrostatic (HS) and hydrodynamic (HD); (ii) impacts of boulders (BI) on elastic walls. The most common BI models ( [4], [5], [6], [8], [9]) consider elastic impacts and use the non linear Hertz’s equation for the MIF evaluation. Most of the works approaching this topic by employing numerical codes aim to simulate specific geometrical conditions/cases ([11], [12]).
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