A Framework for Assessing the Performance Capabilities of Rock Fall Protections for Hazard Analysis and Zoning

Abstract

Assets in mountain regions all over the world are at risk of being affected by rock falls; strategies for ensuring the safety of these areas are needed. Protection measures are a most useful and diffused solution to mitigate rock fall hazards, provided their design features and effectiveness are maintained throughout their life span. As performance capabilities might deteriorate in time, it is necessary to assess the current conditions of protections for establishing whether they can actually operate according to design. This paper introduces a methodological framework for a preliminary evaluation of the performance capacity of existing rock fall protections, based on their current state, and the way this aspect influences hazard assessment and zoning. The methodology features a heuristic approach based on coefficients, called “penalty coefficients”, degrading the parameters which control the behaviour of a given protection, depending on the severity of the conditions the protection measure is in. Details on the structure and concepts of the methodological framework are given at first, along with two schematic examples provided in the second part of the paper, which are aimed at highlighting the necessary elements and steps to be performed to apply the approach in practice.