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

01/05/2016

Abstract 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.