LARGE-SCALE IMPACT TESTS ON ROCK FALL GALLERIES

K Schellenberg, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

A Volkwein, WSL, Switzerland
A Roth, Geobrugg Protection Systems, Switzerland
T Vogel, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract
Protection galleries are important structures to reduce the risk caused by falling
rocks. In Switzerland about 350 galleries are in use for that purpose. The aim of the
tests described in this paper is to gain experimental data to improve the design methods
for rock fall galleries.
A series of rock fall impact tests on six reinforced concrete slabs with a cushion
layer consisting of compacted gravel was performed. Concrete cubes of 800 kg and
4000 kg, respectively, were dropped with different falling heights. Special cushion
systems consisting of high-tensile steel wire mesh and cellular glass were tested.
The relevant data to describe the dynamic processes in the structure are the
measured reaction forces at the supports, the accelerations in the boulder and in the
slab as well as the strains at the upper slab surface and in the reinforcement. In addition
the impacts were recorded by high speed cameras. This paper describes the conducted
impact tests in an outdoor rock fall testing area.
Keywords: rock fall impact, large-scale tests, cushion system, cellular glass, reinforced concrete slabs
1. Introduction
The risk of rock fall events increases due to global warming and due to the population growing into
alpine regions. Meanwhile the risk acceptance in our society decreases according to the state of our
proper economical situation. Considering the high mobility requirements also in alpine regions,
professionals need to improve the protection against rock fall hazards.
Rock fall galleries are an efficient measure to protect roads and railways, mainly if the danger is
locally concentrated. A study on the Swiss rock fall galleries has shown that most of the existing galleries
consist of reinforced concrete slabs and are covered with a cushion layer [1]. The cushion layer
distributes the contact stresses, reduces the accelerations in the striking body and increases the impact
time. Normally, granular soil from the surroundings or gravel is used as cushion layer. Protection galleries
typically span 9 m with a slab thickness of approximately 0.70 m. The back side of the galleries is clamed
supported at the retaining wall, the valley side is supported on columns (see Figure 1). A typical column
spacing is 7 meters.

The impact load capacity of

the existing galleries is of great
interest e.g. to decide on the
necessity
of
renovation
or
strengthening. The Swiss design
guideline for rock fall galleries was
published in 1998 [2]. Older
galleries are mostly designed
based on oversimplifications by
local engineers. The guideline is
based on impact tests carried out in
1996 [3] that focused on the
influence of the cushion layer. The
test results were extrapolated by
using finite element simulations [4].
Further research was performed on
the dissipation capacity of different
cushion
materials
[5].
To
understand the response of the
structure and the interaction
between the impacting rock, the
cushion layer and the reinforced
concrete slab are the main focus of
the actual study. Therefore, largescale field tests on reinforced
concrete slabs are performed in an
old quarry close to Walenstadt in
the Swiss Alps.

a)

b)

2. Test Setup
Six reinforced concrete slabs
covered with a cushion layer were Figure 1: Typical rock fall galleries in Switzerland a) Galeria Val
subjected to falling weight impacts. Funtana, 1971, b) Avalanche gallery Buggital from 1982
The slabs correspond to an
average Swiss rock fall protection
gallery in a scale of 1:2. With three different slab types the influence of the slab thickness and
reinforcement on the impact behavior could be explored. Additional to the standard gravel cover, two
special cushion systems were tested. The impact was defined by different artificial boulders dropped from
varying heights. For each slab, the impact energy was increased until the slab failed. The kinematics of
the striking body was analyzed and the dynamic response of the reinforced concrete slab was
investigated by measuring accelerations, reaction forces and strains.
The test unit consists of two HEM 360 beams supported by four reinforced concrete footings of
0.5 x 0.5 m and 0.6 m height. Both HEM beams are 4.5 m long. One of them serves as line support for
the slabs and is placed on two load cells (shown on the left hand side in Figure 2). A mortar layer with a
thickness of about 1 cm is placed between the line support and the reinforced concrete slab. It insures a
continuous and regularly distributed support and compensates geometrical irregularities and also
restrains the horizontal movements.
The remaining two corners of the slabs are simply supported on the load cells. They model the
column supported points of the galleries. On this side the load cells are placed on top of the second HEM
beam (shown on the right hand side in Figure 2). The four load cells have a capacity of 1000 kN each.
The reaction forces at all supports provide the most important data to study the impact response of the
structure.

Figure 2: Test setup with gravel cushion and 4000 kg boulder

Horizontal movements of the slabs are possible at the simple supports enabled by Teflon laminated
sliding plates (Figure 3). Rotations are enabled by spherical calottes placed between the slide plates and
the load cells. Horizontal displacements of all components of the test unit are restrained by bolts. The
second HEM beam allows the test unit for being adjusted to other support conditions. For further tests, it
could be used for two line supports, even along the short side of the testing unit.
The reinforced concrete slabs are covered by the cushion layer. The boulder is dropped on the slab
from a predefined height. The slabs, the cushion layers and the boulder are described in the next sections.
The tests are recorded by a digital video camera with a recording rate of 250 frames per second. A
posterior analysis of the recorded trajectory can be done using tracking software. The camera and the
instrumentation are triggered manually.

a)

b)

250

350
UNP 220

60
slide plate
120
calotte
load cell
HEM 360

Figure 3: Simple support a) load cell with sliding plates and calotte, b) technical drawing of cross section

2.1 Reinforced Concrete Slabs

Six reinforced concrete slabs with the dimensions 3.5 x 4.5 m were tested. Table 1 shows an
overview of the three different slabs types, Figure 4 the cross section along the short side. Slabs 1 and 2
have a thickness of 0.25 m. Slabs 3 to 6 have a thickness of 0.35 m. Slabs 5 and 6 have additional
continuously distributed shear reinforcement.
To avoid shear failure of the simple supports, two UNP 160 or 220 joists welded to an elbow are cast in at
250 mm distance from the corner. Each side of the
Slabs
Thickness
Bending
Shear
UNP profiles has a length of 1.20 m.
Within the concrete slabs, acceleration and
strains are measured with a sampling rate of
3200 Hz. The accelerations are measured in two
places: First in the center of the slab and second
with 1.5 m distance of the center along the diagonals
towards the simple supported corners. The
measurement range of the acceleration sensor is
1000 m/s2.

1&2

0.25 m

3&4

0.35 m

5&6

0.35 m

reinforcement
d = 18 mm
s = 155 mm
d = 22 mm
s = 155 mm
d = 22 mm
s = 155 mm

reinforcement
no
no
d = 10 mm,
s = 155 mm

Table 1: Slabs thickness and reinforcement

a)

b)

c)

Figure 4: Reinforcement layout of a) slabs 1 & 2, b) slabs 3 & 4 and c) slabs 5 & 6

In the center of the slab the strains in the bending reinforcement and at the slabs upper surface are
measured (Figure 5). The reinforcement strains are measured in two additional rebar of 2 m length
located orthogonal to each other in the center of the slab. There, also the strains at the slab surface are
measured. These strain gages have to be protected by silicon and by a 0.5 cm thick mortar layer. For a
better observation of the crack pattern the soffit of the slabs is painted in white.

a)

b)

Figure 5: Strain gages on a) the reinforcement and b) at the upper slab surface

2.2 Cushion Systems

For the tests 0.40 m gravel is used as a cushion layer. In the scale of 1:2 the thickness of the
cushion corresponds to the average layer thickness placed on typical Swiss rock fall galleries. The
cushion layer is kept together by a steel mesh cylinder with a diameter of 3 m. Considering a load spread
angle of about 45, the influence of the steel mesh on the behavior of the cushion layer should be
negligible. In order to avoid the cushion materials to penetrate the mesh, a geo-textile is applied.
The grain size distribution of the gravel is shown in Table 2. In order
Portion
Mass %
to quantify the energy dissipated by the gravel, rounded material is
0 4 mm
33
selected. After the impacts probes of the cushion layer are taken from the
4 8 mm
11
contact area and examined with respect to the amount of broken grains.
8 16 mm
20
The compaction of the cushion layer is measured before and after
16 32 mm
36
each impact. The compaction measurement is carried out by a light dropTable 2: Grain size
weight device. It consists of a 10 kg weight dropping from 1 m on a steel
distribution of cushion
plate, where accelerations are measured. From the accelerations, a
gravel
compaction modulus of the soil can be defined.
Two special cushion systems with high-tensile steel wire mesh (TECCO) and cellular glass
(MISAPOR) were tested and compared to the gravel layer. The main purpose of these tests is to analyze
the suitability and behaviour of these systems as alternative cushion material. The high-tensile steel wire
mesh is a chain-link mesh with a wire diameter of 3 mm and a tensile strength of 1770 N/mm. The
ultimate load of the mesh is about 170 kN/m. The cellular glass is produced from recycled glass and has
a cube compressive strength of 6 N/mm2. The granulation of the cellular glass amounts ranges from 10 to
50 mm and its density is only 2.5 kN/m3. The
a)
main advantage of the cellular glass is the
low dead load acting on the concrete slab.
Thus, it offers cost savings in transportation
and installation. Furthermore, it was
evaluated how much the impact forces can
be reduced by this special cushion system
compared to gravel due to the thicker but
still lighter cushion layer and also due to the
b)
absorption capacity of the cellular glass and
mesh system. The high-tensile mesh was so
far used for slope stabilization and rock fall
barriers and has a proven energy absorption
capacity.
The first setup (called Geobrugg A)
consists of three layers of 40 cm of cellular
glass, which means three times thicker than
the gravel layer but still has only half the
weight. Between the layers of the cellular
glass and also on top of the cushion, a layer
c)
of high-tensile mesh is installed in order to
get an improved load distribution and to
activate more cellular glass. The second
setup (called Geobrugg B) is made of
modular cylinders made from high-tensile
mesh and filled with cellular glass. The
cylinders have a diameter of 1 m and a
height of 0.6 m. Seven of them are placed
and then covered with a layer of high-tensile
mesh, again 7 cylinders and again a top
layer of the high-tensile mesh. The cylinders
Figure 7: Cushion layers a) 0.40 m gravel layer,
restrict the lateral displacement of the
b) 1.20 m Geobrugg A and c) Geobrugg B system
material and create modular energy
dissipating systems.

a)

b)

Figure 8: Boulder a) geometry, b) 4000 kg boulder with target points

2.3 Boulder
Artificial concrete boulders are dropped from different heights ranging from 2 to 15 m released by a
remote-controlled hook. The boulders consist of two hexahedron obtuse (Fig. 8) out of fiber-reinforced
high performance concrete with a weight of
Name
Slab Cushion
Falling
Falling
Impact
800 kg and 4000 kg, respectively. The
layer
Weight
height
Energy
boulders are equipped with six acceleration
[kg]
[m]
[kJ]
sensors measuring the vertical acceleration.
A1
1
Gravel
800
2
16
2
The range of the sensors is 500 m/s , the
A2
1
Gravel
800
5
39
A3
1
Gravel
800
5
39
data is sampled with 10 kHz. The data of
A4
1
Gravel
800
5
39
0.5 s before triggering and 2.5 s afterwards is
A5
1
Gravel
800
7.5
59
saved.
A6
1
Gravel
800
10
78
The vertical rock velocities and
A7
1
Gravel
800
12.5
98
A8
1
Gravel
800
15
118
movements are obtained through numerical
B1
3
Gravel
800
5
39
integration of the acceleration data. Further
B2
3
Gravel
800
7.5
59
steps are taken to increase the preciseness
B3
3
Gravel
800
10
78
of this analysis: The large number of sensors
B4
3
Gravel
800
12.5
98
B5
3
Gravel
800
15
118
allows for averaging the acceleration and the
B6
3
Gravel
4000
2
79
known start position and final position allow
B7
3
Gravel
4000
5
197
the consideration of necessary correction
C1
2
Geobrugg A
800
15
118
factors. A tailor-made analysis software [6]
C2
2
Geobrugg A
800
5
39
C3
2
Geobrugg A
800
5
39
eases the procedure. The trajectory of the
C4
2
Geobrugg A
800
5
39
boulder is additionally recorded by the highC5
2
Geobrugg A
800
10
78
speed video system. This redundancy allows
C6
2
Geobrugg A
800
15
118
an additional check or - if necessary - a
C7
2
Geobrugg A
4000
2
78
C8
2
Geobrugg A
4000
5
196
further correction. Previous work [7] has
D1
4
Gravel
4000
2
78
shown that the acceleration and the timeD2
4
Gravel
4000
5
196
integrated velocities taken from the
E1
5
Gravel
800
15
118
acceleration sensors are most precise.
E2
5
Gravel
4000
5
196
However, the best displacement curve is
E3
5
Gravel
4000
7.5
294
F1
6
Geobrugg A
4000
7.5
294
taken from the video recordings. By
F2
6
Geobrugg A
4000
7.5
294
differentiation velocities and accelerations
F3
6
Geobrugg B
4000
7.5
294
are obtained from the displacement curve.
F4
6
Geobrugg B
4000
7.5
294
3. Test program
The magnitude of rock fall impacts is
difficult to predict and their values are
governed by large uncertainties. Compared
to that the statistical spread of the test results
is of minor importance and each impact test

F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10

6
6
6
6
6
6

1)

Gravel
2)
Gravel
Gravel
Gravel
Gravel
Gravel

800
800
800
800
4000
4000

10
15
15
15
5
7.5

Table 3: Program of the 38 large scale tests

1)

thickness: 0.20 m

2)

incompact

79
118
118
118
198
295

is carried out only once. Taking into account the high costs of large-scale tests this decision is advisable.
The test program was set up to obtain the best comparisons possible between the single impact tests.
To avoid damage to the test unit and to the instrumentation the load capacity of the slabs should
not reach the ultimate load level, although it would be interesting since information about the governing
failure mode and the dynamic material properties can be gained. The tests have been performed by
increasing the falling height until plastic strains in the bending reinforcement reach a certain level or shear
failure occured.
Using the six available slabs the test program with 38 impacts as shown in Table 3 has been
executed. The procedure for the impact testing includes the following ten steps: 1) Placing the slab on the
testing unit and mounting the instrumentation, 2) installing the cushion layer on top of the slab, 3)
compacting the cushion layer and measuring the compaction, 4) placing the boulder into initial position
and measuring the position, 5) lifting the boulder to the predefined falling height and releasing it, 6)
measuring the final position after impact and removing the boulder, 7) measuring the compaction and
taking samples from the cushion layer, 8) tracking the cracks of the slab, 9) loosing of the compacted
cushion layer at the impact location and returning to step 3) for the next impact test. Finally, 10) removing
the slab from the testing unit and taking drilling core samples. For each slab (except the last one) the
tests lasted one day.
The influence of the slab thickness on the impact response is the major goal of the experimental
study. Additionally, the following comparisons could be obtained from the test program:
1)impulse variation: large mass with low impact velocity compared to small mass with high impact
velocity
2) slab response with different degradation states,
3) load capacity of the slab with and without shear reinforcement
4) conventional and special cushion layer
4. Discussion
It could be observed that the boulders impact surface was not completely horizontal at the moment
of contact. This lead to a small rotation of the boulder during the impact and produced a horizontal load
acting on the structure. The slabs received a small lateral displacement. The bolts ensuring the horizontal
restrain of the test units had to be replaced several times.
Neither the influence of the boulder shape nor the compaction of the cushion layer has been
studied during theses large-scale test. The compaction of the cushion layer has been studied
parametrically in previous studies [3]. Before every test the gravel layer has been compacted with a
compacting machine to Mv-values around 45 MN/m2. This value corresponds to the upper range of
compaction that can be expected on top of a rock fall gallery.
After the tests, the cushion layer was less compacted than before. The separation of cushion layer
and slab was clearly observable with the high-speed video recording.
In difference to real rock fall galleries, the slabs are not retrained from lifting off the supports. This
was also observed in the high-speed videos.
During the latest phase of the slab response, the slab, the cushion system and the boulder are in
a)

b)

Figure 9: Slabs after failure in test D2 a) front view b) chipping of concrete in the compaction zone

free oscillation. From the oscillation period, the actual stiffness of the slab can be deduced.
The failure mode that could be observed in all slabs was a combined bending shear failure close to
the simple supported corner (Figure 9). According to the design of the slabs, a bending failure along the
middle of the slab was expected. Punching resistance of the slab was close to the bending failure. For the
structural analysis and the design of the structure, the supposed failure mode plays an important role [8].
Also for the assumptions of dynamic material characteristics, the structures response is important.
5. Conclusions
Large-scale tests have been presented that simulate the impact of a falling rock onto a rock fall
protection gallery. An instrumented boulder has been dropped onto six concrete slabs that were covered
by a conventional and by a special cushion system consisting of high-tensile steel wire mesh filled with a
layer of light-weight cellular glass (Misapor). With this system it was possible to reduce the support forces
substantially.
It could be shown that the test setup produces reliable results. The obtained data is very detailed
and allows for an extensive analysis describing the rock impact, the behavior of the cushion system and
the interaction between impacting boulder and concrete slab.
6. Outlook
The test results, the evaluation methods and the comparison with analytical models will be
published next. Studies of the structural performance of concrete slabs subjected to rock fall impacts will
lead to a design concept for rock fall galleries. The teamwork between the different disciplines in rock fall
studies (detachment of blocks from cliffs, trajectory analysis, geotechnical studies of the cushion layer
and structural response of the gallery) will improve the handling of rock fall problems, i.e. mitigate the
damage of infrastructure or humans lives due to rock fall.
Acknowledgements
These large-scale tests have only been possible to perform thanks to the help of many involved.
The authors wish to thank Werner Gerber, Andreas Mller, Jorge H. Schellenberg, Markus Baumann,
Christoph Gisler, Matthias Denk, Bruno Fritschi, Daniel Caduff, Sara Ghadimi, Stephan Fricker,
Thomas Jaggi, Heinz Richner, Jan Laue, Reto Hess, Heinz Gubser and Hans Kienast.
Special thanks are also addressed to the highway administrations of the cantons of Grison and Uri
for their indispensable financial support.
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