Ground reinforced embankments for rockfall protection: design and evaluation of full scale tests

Infrastructures such as roads and railways as well as urbanised areas, in mountainside regions, can frequently be endangered by rockfalls and, therefore, need to be protected against the impact of rolling blocks. Among the various protection works that can be used, ground reinforced embankments can be considered a feasible technique. A set of full-scale tests on embankments made of ground reinforced by geogrids are presented and discussed. The experiments were performed in a specifically designed and constructed test facility, where concrete blocks up to 9,000 kg in weight were thrown onto a geogrid reinforced embankment at a speed of about 30 m/s. Several embankments made of different geogrid types, different soils and construction layouts were tested at different impact energy levels, permitting a quantitative assessment of the resistance impact of these structures. The experimental results were compared with those obtained from a dynamic finite element method numerical model, and a good agreement was obtained.