Overturning stability of L-shaped rigid barriers subjected to rockfall impacts

Reinforced concrete barriers are commonly used as defence measures in hilly areas to contain falling boulders and landslide debris. These barriers are conventionally designed to satisfy the conditions of force and momentum equilibrium with a factor of safety. A major limitation of this approach is that the inertial resistance of the barrier is neglected such that the design could be over-conservative. This paper presents a novel displacement-based approach for the assessment of overturning stability of rigid L-shaped barriers subjected to rockfall impacts. Analytical solutions, which are derived based on conservation of momentum and energy, are used to take into account the contributions of the self-weight and, thus, the inertial resistance of the barrier in resisting an impact. The actual amount of energy transferred from the impacting boulder to the barrier is considered by including the coefficient of restitution between the two objects. The accuracy of the analytical solutions has been confirmed by laboratory impact experiments. Numerical assessments conducted using the new solutions indicate that a reasonably sized rigid barrier, due to its own inertial resistance, may adequately withstand the impact action of a heavy boulder rolling down a hillslope without relying on any anchorage to its support. A range of geometric design of the barriers with L-shaped cross sections also has been considered and analysed. The new approach presented in this paper is easy to apply in practice and will be useful for engineers designing concrete barriers as passive rockfall mitigation measures.