Practical design of rockfall catchfence at urban area from a numerical analysis approach

This paper presents a numerical approach for the design of rockfall catchfence based on the study of the rockfall stabilization works at Route 5 state highway in NJ, US where severe rockfalls have been periodically occurring. For the optimal design of rockfall catchfence, statistical rockfall analysis has been performed to estimate critical impact conditions and impact energy in the study area. Then, the design criterion of the rockfall catchfence has been validated by means of 3D finite element analysis featuring explicit dynamic capabilities. A series of parametric studies indicate that the rockfall barrier system can be optimally designed by controlling the design parameters such as the stiffness and configurations of net barrier system and impact conditions. The paper illustrates how detailed numerical analyses can be applied practically to optimize the design of the rockfall barrier system under a given field condition.