Report No. : GEO Report No. 323

Report Title : A Numerical Study of Dynamic Responses of Two Selected Flexible Rockfall Barriers Subject to Punching and Areal Loads (2016), 48 p.

Author : R.C.H. Koo & J.S.H. Kwan

Abstract

A numerical study on the performance of two selected flexible rockfall barriers subject to punching and areal loads was undertaken. The punching and areal loads simulate rockfall impact and landslide debris impact respectively. Numerical simulations were carried out using three-dimensional non-linear finite element numerical package LS-DYNA. In the numerical simulations, the two flexible barriers were impacted by drop weights moving at different velocities. Drop weights of different shapes such as single sphere and rigid-slab were used. The impacts of the sphere and the rigid-sphere are pertinent to punching load and areal load scenarios respectively.

The numerical analyses show that the two rockfall barrier structures could withstand the impact of the rigid-slab with the kinetic energy same as their energy capacity, and that the impacts of rigid-slab could give rise to a higher foundation load in the direction of the impact when compared with the punching load.

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