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Large-scale physical modeling study on the interaction between rockfall and flexible barrier

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Abstract

Flexible barriers have been widely applied in rockfall mitigation in recent years. However, the behavior of flexible barriers under the impact of boulders is still not fully understood. To investigate the interaction between a flexible barrier and a falling boulder, a large-scale physical modeling device has been constructed at a site in Hong Kong. Using this device, large-scale impact tests using boulders with different diameters were conducted. Test results are presented and analyzed in this paper. The motion of the boulder during impact is traced and analyzed. The impact forces on the flexible ring net and the supporting structures are measured and compared. From the comparison, the impact reduction rates (IRR) of boulders with different diameters are calculated. Moreover, a simple approach for estimating the impact loading of a boulder on a flexible barrier is proposed in this study. This approach is calibrated and verified using measured impact forces in the tests.

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Funding

This paper received financial supports from the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The work in this paper is also supported by a CRF project (Grant No. PolyU12/CRF/13E) from the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government of China and a National State Key Project “973” grant (Grant No. 2014CB047000) (sub-project no. 2014CB047001) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China. This paper also received financial supports from PolyU grants (1-ZVCR, 1-ZVEH, 4-BCAU, 4-BCAW, 4-BCB1, 5-ZDAF). This paper is also supported by the Research Centre for Urban Hazards Mitigation of Faculty of Construction and Environment of PolyU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Dao-Yuan Tan, Jian-Hua Yin, Jie-Qiong Qin, Zhuo-Hui Zhu & Wei-Qiang Feng

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  1. Dao-Yuan Tan
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  2. Jian-Hua Yin
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  3. Jie-Qiong Qin
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  4. Zhuo-Hui Zhu
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  5. Wei-Qiang Feng
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Correspondence to Jian-Hua Yin.

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Tan, DY., Yin, JH., Qin, JQ. et al. Large-scale physical modeling study on the interaction between rockfall and flexible barrier. Landslides 15, 2487–2497 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-1058-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-1058-1

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