Geo-engineered buffer capacity of two-layered absorbing system under the impact of rock avalanches based on Discrete Element Method

Many rock avalanches were triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008 in southwest China. Protection galleries covered with a single soil layer are usually used to protect against rockfall. Since one-layer protection galleries do not have sufficient buffer capacity, a two-layered absorbing system has been designed. This study aims to find whether an expanded poly-styrol (EPS) cushion, which is used in the soil-covered protection galleries for shock absorption, could be positioned under dynamic loadings. The dynamic impacts of the two-layered absorbing system under the conditions of rock avalanches are numerically simulated through a 2D discrete element method. By selecting reasonable parameters, a series of numerical experiments were conducted to find the best combination for the two-layered absorbing system. The values of the EPS layer area as a percentage of the total area were set as 0% (S₁), 22% (S₂), and 70% (S₃). 22% of the area of the EPS layer was found to be a reasonable value, and experiments were conducted to find the best position of the EPS layer in the two-layered absorbing system. The numerical results yield useful conclusions regarding the interaction between the impacting avalanches and the two-layered absorbing system. The soil layer can absorb the shock energy effectively and S₂ (0.4-m thick EPS cushion covered with soil layer) is the most efficient combination, which can reduce the impact force, compared with the other combinations.