Design method for rockfall protection embankments reinforced with geosynthetics

Reinforced Soil Rockfall Protection Embankments (RS-RPE) reinforced with geosynthetics proved to be a safe measure for protecting people, structures and infrastructures from rockfall events, designed to absorb even very high impact energy (up to 30,000 kJ). RS-RPEs can be constructed in various shapes and sizes, with different reinforcements (geogrids, geotextiles, geostrips, steel wire meshes, etc.) and facing materials (wrap-around, geocells, gabions, etc.). The Authors have developed a new analytical design method for RS-RPE which consider the effect of all the variables playing a role in the resistance to penetration on the uphill face and the resistance to extrusion on the downhill face, in order to finally compute approximate yet consistent values of the penetration depth and of the extrusion length; hence the designer can quickly try different solutions and finally select the best combination of design variables which afford to respect all design limits and Factors of Safety. Back analyses of full scale tests are used to validate the presented design method.