Rocscience - Software Presentation-PPT Presentation

PPT Presentation

Pdf Summary

The presentation describes an integrated workflow for assessing block stability and rockfall hazards, combining field mapping, kinematic analysis, 3D block stability modelling, and 3D rockfall simulation.<br /><br />Rockfall outcomes are highly uncertain because trajectories and impact energies depend on many factors, and site-specific data may be limited. Statistical simulations address this by assigning distributions to input variables and running hundreds or thousands of trials. Results show distributions of rock end locations, velocities, trajectory heights, and energies.<br /><br />Reliable models require slope geometry, contact materials and parameters, likely rockfall origins, rock properties and shape, initial conditions, and mitigation details. LiDAR can provide detailed slope geometry and discontinuity mapping. Kinematic analysis identifies potential failure modes; 3D block stability analysis estimates block geometry and factors of safety, helping locate possible rockfall sources. Those results can then inform rockfall simulations.<br /><br />The presentation highlights practical uncertainties: choosing contact friction and restitution values, estimating the sizes and shapes of falling rocks, and accounting for fragmentation. Site observations, historical events, and tracked trajectories can help calibrate model parameters. Simulation outputs, including energy and trajectory-height percentiles, can support protection design and evaluation of barriers. Block-stability analyses can also estimate failure depth and the support needed to meet a target factor of safety.<br /><br />Ongoing research aims to develop probabilistic hazard maps of potential rockfall origins, estimate block-size distributions using discrete fracture network realizations, and establish systematic methods for deriving site-specific contact parameters through back-analysis of observed trajectories.

Keywords

rockfall hazard

block stability

kinematic analysis

3D simulation

LiDAR mapping

probabilistic modelling

trajectory analysis

impact energy

fracture networks

slope stability