Topic
Rockfall
About: Rockfall is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2577 publications have been published within this topic receiving 46658 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
1 / 2
Papers
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the range of Earth surface movements that may be classified as LANDSLIDES and classified them according to the following: Falling, sliding, or flowing.
Abstract: THE WHOLE RANGE OF EARTH MOVEMENTS THAT MAY PROPERLY BE REGARDED AS LANDSLIDES IS REVIEWED AND THESE MOVEMENTS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO FACTORS THAT HAVE SOME BEARING ON PREVENTION OR CONTROL. THE TERM LANDSLIDE IS DEFINED AS DENOTING DOWNWARD AND OUTWARD MOVEMENT OF SLOPE-FORMING MATERIALS COMPOSED OF NATURAL ROCK, SOILS, ARTIFICIAL FILLS, COMBINATIONS OF THESE MATERIALS. THE MOVING MASS MAY PROCEDE BY ANY ONE OF THREE PRINCIPLE TYPES OF MOVEMENT: FALLING, SLIDING, OR FLOWING, OR BY THEIR COMBINATIONS. MATERIALS ARE CLASSED, FOR FALLS AND SLIDES, INTO BEDROCK AND SOILS. LANDSLIDES ARE CLASSIFIED BY TYPES OF MOVEMENT, BUT IT MUST BE REMEMBERED THAT A RIGID CLASSIFICATION IS NEITHER PRACTICAL NOR DESIREABLE. VARIATIONS IN THE TYPE OF MOVEMENT AND IN THE MATERIALS VARY FROM PLACE TO PLACE, OR FROM TIME TO TIME, IN AN ACTUAL LANDSLIDE. SLUMPS AND SLUMPS COMBINED WITH OTHER TYPES OF MOVEMENT, MAKE UP A HIGH PROPORTION OF THE LANDSLIDE PROBLEMS FACING THE HIGHWAY ENGINEERS. THE MOVEMENT IN SLUMPS TAKES PLACE ONLY ALONG INTERNAL SLOPE SURFACES. SOME OF THE COMMON VARIETIES OF SLUMP FAILURE ARE ILLUSTRATED IN A FIGURE. THE PROCESS OF LANDSLIDING IS ESSENTIALLY A CONTINUOUS SERIES OF EVENTS FROM CAUSE TO EFFECT. IN MANY INSTANCES THE PRINCIPLE CAUSE OF THE SLIDE CANNOT BE REMOVED SO IT MAY BE MORE ECONOMICAL TO ALLEVIATE THE EFFECTS CONTINUALLY OR INTERMITTENTLY WITHOUT ATTEMPTING TO REMOVE THE CAUSE. LANDSLIDES GENERALLY TAKE PLACE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GEOLOGIC, TOPOGRAPHIC, OR CLIMATIC FACTORS COMMON TO LARGE AREAS. VERY SELDOM CAN A SLIDE BE ATTRIBUTED TO A SINGLE DEFINITE CAUSE. ALL TRUE SLIDES (EXCLUDING FALLS) INVOLVE THE FAILURE OF EARTH MATERIALS UNDER SHEAR STRESS. THE INITIATION OF THE PROCESS CAN THEREFORE BE REVIEWED ACCORDING TO: (1) THE FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO HIGH SHEAR STRESS, AND (2) THE FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO LOW SHEAR STRENGTH. THE PRINCIPLE FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE INSTABILITY OF EARTH MATERIALS ARE: (1) REMOVAL OF LATERAL SUPPORT LEADING TO INSTABILITY AND ACTIONS OF EROSION, GLACIER ICE, WAVES AND LONGSHORE OR TIDAL CURRENTS; CREATION OF NEW SLOPE BY PREVIOUS ROCKFALL, SLIDE, SUBSIDENCE, OR LARGE SCALE FAULTING, AND HUMAN AGENCIES, (2) SURCHARGE WHICH INCLUDES NATURAL AND HUMAN AGENCIES, (3) TRANSITORY EARTH STRESSES WHICH MAY RESULT FROM EARTHQUAKES, VIBRATIONS FROM BLASTING, MACHINERY, AND TRAFFIC, (4) REGIONAL TILTING WHICH CAUSES PROGRESSIVE INCREASE IN SLOPE ANGLES, (5) RE- MOVAL OF UNDERLYING SUPPORT BY UNDERCUTTING OF BANKS, BY RIVERS AND WAVES, SUBAERIAL WEATHERING, SUBTERRANEAN EROSION, HUMAN AGENCY, SUCH AS MINING, AND (6) LATERAL PRESSURE DUE TO WATER IN CRACKS AND CAVERNS, FREEZING OF WATER IN CRACKS, AND SWELLING. FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO LAW SHEAR STRENGTH ARE DISCUSSED.
1,967 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the characteristics, geologic environments, and hazards of landslides caused by seismic events and found that the maximum area likely to be affected by landslides in a seismic event increases from approximately 0 at M ≅ 4.0 to 500,000 km2 at M = 9.2.
Abstract: Data from 40 historical world-wide earthquakes were studied to determine the characteristics, geologic environments, and hazards of landslides caused by seismic events. This sample of 40 events was supplemented with intensity data from several hundred United States earthquakes to study relations between landslide distribution and seismic parameters. Fourteen types of landslides were identified in the earthquakes studied. The most abundant of these were rock falls, disrupted soil slides, and rock slides. The greatest losses of human life were due to rock avalanches, rapid soil flows, and rock falls. Correlations between magnitude (M) and landslide distribution show that the maximum area likely to be affected by landslides in a seismic event increases from approximately 0 at M ≅ 4.0 to 500,000 km2 at M = 9.2.
Threshold magnitudes, minimum shaking intensities, and relations between M and distance from epicenter or fault rupture were used to define relative levels of shaking that trigger landslides in susceptible materials. Four types of internally disrupted landslides—rock falls, rock slides, soil falls, and disrupted soil slides—are initiated by the weakest shaking. More coherent, deeper-seated slides require stronger shaking; lateral spreads and flows require shaking that is stronger still; and the strongest shaking is probably required for very highly disrupted rock avalanches and soil avalanches.
Each type of earthquake-induced landslide occurs in a particular suite of geologic environments. These range from overhanging slopes of well-indurated rock to slopes of less than 1° underlain by soft, unconsolidated sediments. Materials most susceptible to earthquake-induced landslides include weakly cemented rocks, more-indurated rocks with prominent or pervasive discontinuities, residual and colluvial sand, volcanic soils containing sensitive clay, loess, cemented soils, granular alluvium, granular deltaic deposits, and granular man-made fill. Few earthquake-induced landslides reactivate older landslides; most are in materials that have not previously failed.
1,941 citations
TL;DR: Practical Rock Engineering as mentioned in this paper is an e-book based upon Dr. Hoek's years of experience in rock engineering and has recently been reissued as the 2007 edition, which presents rock engineering in a practical manner and in 17 individual chapters.
Abstract: Practical Rock Engineering is an e-book based upon Dr. Hoek's years of experience in rock engineering and has recently been reissued as the 2007 edition. The book presents rock engineering in a practical manner and in 17 individual chapters. Each chapter stands alone with its explanations, figures, tables, conclusions, and references. Fourteen chapters present topics ranging from development, design, rock mass classification, discontinuities, instability of tunnels, safety factors, analysis of rockfall hazards, rock mass properties, weak rock tunnels, rockbolts and cables, and shotcrete support to blasting damage in rock engineering. Chapters 6, 7, and 13 present solely case histories; these refer to underground tunneling, slope stability, and the design of underground caverns. The book can be downloaded via the Internet at the Rocscience web page (http://www.rocscience.com) either as a single PDF file or as single chapters. A brief explanation of each chapter follows.
Chapter 1 discusses the development of rock engineering. This chapter introduces historical developments in rock engineering from 1773 to 1979. Three major disasters making a major contribution to the general development of rock engineering are explained. This chapter also introduces the reader to rock burst and elastic theory, discontinuities in rock masses, geological data collection, rock mass classification, rock mass strength, in situ stress measurements, groundwater problems, rock reinforcement and support design, excavation methods in rock, etc.
The purpose of Chapter 2 is to draw attention to acceptable designs in rock engineering. The chapter is extended by four case histories such …
763 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a review paper examines thermal conditions (active layer and permafrost), internal composition (rock and ice components), kinematics and rheology of creeping perennially frozen slopes in cold mountain areas.
Abstract: This review paper examines thermal conditions (active layer and permafrost), internal composition (rock and ice components), kinematics and rheology of creeping perennially frozen slopes in cold mountain areas. The aim is to assemble current information about creep in permafrost and rock glaciers from diverse published sources into a single paper that will be useful in studies of the flow and deformation of subsurface ice and their surface manifestations not only on Earth, but also on Mars. Emphasis is placed on quantitative information from drilling, borehole measurements, geophysical soundings, photogrammetry, laboratory experiments, etc. It is evident that quantitative holistic treatment of permafrost creep and rock glaciers requires consideration of: (a) rock weathering, snow avalanches and rockfall, with grain-size sorting on scree slopes; (b) freezing processes and ice formation in scree at sub-zero temperatures containing abundant fine material as well as coarse-grained blocks; (c) coupled thermohydro-mechanical aspects of creep and failure processes in frozen rock debris; (d) kinematics of non-isotropic, heterogeneous and layered, ice-rich permafrost on slopes with long transport paths for coarse surface material from the headwall to the front and, in some cases, subsequent re-incorporation into an advancing rock glacier causing corresponding age inversion at
587 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an interactive tool for conducting rockburst support design in underground tunnels is introduced to facilitate cost-effective design, and the support selection process in burst-prone ground is iterative, requiring design verification and modification based on field observations.
Abstract: As mining and civil tunneling progresses to depth, excavation-induced seismicity and rockburst problems increase and cannot be prevented. As an important line of defense, ground control measures and burst-resistant rock support are used to prevent or minimize damage to excavations and thus to enhance workplace safety. Rock support in burst-prone ground differs from conventional rock support where controlling gravity-induced rockfalls and managing shallow zones of loose rock are the main target. Rock support in burst-prone ground needs to resist dynamic loads and large rock dilation due to violent rock failure. After reviewing the rockburst phenomenon, types of rockbursts, damage mechanisms, and rockburst support design principles and acceptability criteria, this paper describes that the support selection process in burst-prone ground is iterative, requiring design verification and modification based on field observations. An interactive design tool for conducting rockburst support design in underground tunnels is introduced to facilitate cost-effective design.
503 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 |
| 2025 | 151 |
| 2024 | 202 |
| 2023 | 323 |
| 2022 | 417 |
| 2021 | 190 |