A Numerical Investigation on a Novel Approach for Designing Semi-Rigid Barriers for Rockfall Protection Based on Spider Web Geometry

Abstract

Semi-rigid rockfall barriers are commonly used to mitigate rockfall hazards by preventing rocks from falling into ‎roads and railways paths. Many companies and authorities design these semi-rigid barriers without any clear standards or ‎guidelines. Some guidelines such as the European technical approval of falling rock protection kits (ETAG 027) are occasionally used in testing flexible rockfall barriers. ‎The current study proposes a new approach for designing flexible barriers in general, and semi-rigid barriers in particular. This new approach is inspired by the spider web geometry and its topology. A virtual computer simulation by finite element software ̎Abaqus/explicit is also performed on a semi-rigid barrier that complies with most of the design practices. The ‎results are compared with a previous virtual simulation study of a semi-rigid barrier. ‎The comparison of the results shows that the proposed rockfall barrier design method leads to a better design compared to other previously investigated design methods.