Author(s)

S. Lambert, D. Bertrand, F. Nicot & P. Gotteland

Abstract

The impact behaviour of composite geo-cells used as components of rock fall protection structures is studied experimentally. The response of single cells subjected to impact by a boulder vertically dropped with energies of 13.5kJ is analysed. The influence of the cell filling material and cell boundary conditions is discussed. The damping potential of an impacted cell appears to depend on these two conditions. Experimental results are then compared with numerical ones obtained using the discrete element method - DEM. Keywords: rock fall, protection, dyke, impact, geo-cell, gabion, geo-materials, dissipation, experiments, numerical. 1 Introduction Geo-cells can be defined as composite structures associating a manufactured envelope together with a granular filling material. Different types of geo-cells are employed in civil engineering structures for reinforcement purposes, with applications in embankments or reinforced walls. The envelope is generally made up of a geotextile, or related product, or wire netting. The filling material can be soil, crushed rock or any granular material. The sectional shape of the cell can either be a honeycomb, a parallelepiped or a circle. The geo-cells are generally interconnected. Such geo-cells can be used to build rock fall protection dykes, or dams. In mountainous regions, rock falls are very frequent events resulting in road blockages, infrastructure degradation and injury to humans. Among the different possible protection structures, dykes are the only one able to intercept blocks of translational kinetic energies over 5MJ. Classically these dykes are soil-

Keywords

rock fall, protection, dyke, impact, geo-cell, gabion, geo-materials, dissipation, experiments, numerical.