Tensile stress development and critical behavior of a flexible barrier

Abstract

A DEM numerical approach is employed to illustrate the critical stress development of a three-supporting cable flexible barrier under a large scale stony debris movement impact. A proper linear parallel bond is applied to build the flexible barrier model. Critical state is presented by lowering the tensile resistance of the flexible barrier and steepening the channel slope. The tensile stress of the supporting cables is primarily studied. Results mainly indicate that the particle-structure contact is essential to the stress development. The bottom cable always exhibits larger tensile stress due to the massive collision and compressive force of particles and the tensile force exerted by the vertical cable-net joint system. On the other hand, the intermediate cable receives lower collision and compressive force, resulting in smaller tensile stress. The bottom cable indicating numerous direct particle-structure contact part performs brittle failure, which is analogous to the concentrated load feedbacks. The loading of the intermediate one reaches ductile failure, reflecting the desirable effect of dispersing loads. This study suggests that practical engineering should try to avoid massive boulder impact or reinforce the bottom cable in order to improve the hazard prevention design.