• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.59-66
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• 2002

Designs for rockfall protection systems must consider rock and soil types, the angle of the slope, conditions on top and the toe of the affected area. Rockfall protection fence is installed to block for falling rock from cut slopes and this is one of the most common rockfall protection measures. The capability of the fence is provided that sum of capability of poly vinyl chloride coated wire mesh, steel support and wire rope respectively. But in some case, the rockfall protection fence was not supported rockfall energy less than total capability of the fence through the full scale rockfall tests. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are to indicate the problems of fence capability and to improve the design specifications for the fence.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.499-511
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• 2022

In this study, a vertical drop test was carried out to identify the performance of flexible wire rope rockfall protection fence by 100 kJ rockfall energy according to ETAG 027. The flexible wire rope, which consists of wire rope and spring. is especially enhanced the elasticity and flexibility so that it can be longer elongated when the rope is impacted by rockfall compared to original wire rope, and that results longer increase of contact time between rockfall and wire rope and increase rockfall energy absorption capability and decreases rockfall impact force. The test results shows that the plastic deformation occurred in middle post and the final deflection of the middle post was 1.15 m, which is lower than 2.0 m determined by ETAG 027. This vertical test verified the flexible wire rope rockfall protection fence can successfully absorb 102.9 kJ rockfall energy.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.35-45
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• 2005

The rockfall protection fence is one of the most common rockfall protection methods in Korea. The typical rockfall protection fence consists mainly of three parts ; H-beam supports, wire meshes, and wire ropes. The design of the rockfall protection fence is made such that the total energy absorbing capacity of the fence. Therefore, resulting from the combined energy absorbing capacity of the three parts is larger than the falling energy of rocks. In present study, a new rockfall protection fence, constructed using expanded metals instead of the existing wire rope and wire mesh for the typical type of rockfall protection fence, was evaluated on its performance by conducting both laboratory and field tests. Also, for a comparison, the same tests were performed on the typical rockfall protection fence. The test results revealed that the expanded material is an economic alternative to the existing protection materials and the expanded metal rockfall protection fence exhibits the higher energy absorbing capacity compared to that of the typical rockfall protection fence.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.49-60
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• 2009

In order to develop a new rockfall protection fence using high carbon steel wire rod (HSWR) material instead of the conventional wire rope material, the author has conducted the laboratory strength tests of both materials and their connections, and carried out evaluation of absorbing rockfall energy through the vertical field rockfall tests. The vertical filed rockfall tests showed that the new rockfall protection fence with 12 rows of the HSWR could absorb more rockfall energy than 50 kJ which stands for the typical design criteria. In addition, when the quantity of HSWR was increased up to the 16 rows, the capacity of absorbing energy was greatly improved. The new rockfall protection fence was successfully applied to the highway rock-cut slope. As a result of the filed application, its constructability was similar to the conventional fence, but its total image was improved as simple and clean. The total construction cost was saved up to 20% in comparison with the conventional one.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.17-21
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• 2020

Over 60% of South Korea's land consists of mountainous topography, and recently, due to earthquakes, localized heavy rains and road development, the risks of rockfalls are getting higher. As of now, rockfall prevention facilities are being constructed in 70% of Korean roads cut slope and rockfall protections account for about 20% of them. Rockfall protection's supporting capacity is defined by combining performance of wire mesh, pillars and wire ropes. For the existing constructed rockfall protection, standards of pillars that can absorb 48~61 kJ amount of energy, wire ropes and wire mesh are presented in Guidelines for the installation and management of traffic safety facilities, Rockfall prevention facilities by Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (2008). However, each factor's correlation of absorption energy is not presented so it is uncertain. This study will conduct vertical drop test and identify adequacy of rockfall protection net of displacement quantity calculation factor which is delta and evaluate rockfall protection net's absorbable energy through standards of overseas performance evaluation criteria.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.111-121
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• 2001

Rockfall protection fences are used for diminishing rockfall damage in roads side slopes. In order to install the fences in effective way, the conditions of rock slopes and total predicted impact energy of fa11ing rock should be considered. However, the fences have been constructed without any consideration for lithology, height and slope angle of rock slope in Korea. In addition, the information about the performance of the protection fences, which should be evaluated by in-situ test or laboratory test in order to check out the practical use in the field, is not available. Therefore, in design manual for the rockfall protection fence, the specific details for the installation of this type of fence are not provided yet. The full sized rockfall in situ test was carried out for the calculation of falling energy of rock and the evaluation of the maximum energy absorbing capacity of fence. For this test, the rock slopes whose heights are about 20 m and dip angle of 65 degree, have been chosen. This is because those geometries are mean height and slope angle of most road cut slopes along Korean national highway. Based on the preliminary simulation procedure, four different sizes of concrete ball (0.7, 1.3, 2.3 and 4.3 ton) were prepared and flour different types of protection fence were constructed. The results of this test provide information about the maximum energy absorbing capacity of the fence, kinetic energy of rockfall and restitution coefficient, and these results can be utilized in the establishment of rockfall fence design and construction manual.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.11b
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• pp.139-151
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• 2000

Rockfall protection fence is one of the most common rockfall protection measures in Korea. The fences have been constructed in almost every hazardous cutslopes along national highway in Korea. However, the capability and performance of the fence as rockfall protection system are seldom known since no field test which can provide information on the response and the behavior of fence was carried out. This is the first full scaled rockfall test in Korea. The objectives of the test are to provide the information on the behavior and the capability of fence and to propose the design specifications for the fence. In this test, four different systems have been selected and tested. For each test, the rockfall impact energy was analyzed and the response and behavior of the system were investigated.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.13-20
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• 2011

There are many mountains in Korean Peninsula, and those used for the construction of roads and railways sectors are forming slopes. Slope collapse occurs with falling rocks and landslide because of the relaxation of the thawing rocks. The heavy rain in summer can also significantly contribute to the process, and abnormal climate change is much more influential than before. Therefore, rockfall-related accidents in rainy season are easily accessible in media every year. There has been a lot of research on application of strengthening compensation of the sections in order to minimize casualties and property damage. Rockfall Protection Net, however, has not been focused on much in the field yet. This study highlights the need of Rockfall Protection Net, since it can segregate the falling rocks inside the net relatively safely. Although there has been a little doubt about the effectiveness of rockfall protection facilities, it is obvious that relevant studies dealing with the solidity of the net are necessary for the rockfall protection net to be capable of supporting rockfall energies. As a result, Expanded metal strength is much more durable compared to the PVC coating net, and it is regarded as an excellent alternative material for the Rockfall Protection Net. In this study, the applicability of Expanded Metal as the alternative of Rockfall Protection Net is verified experimentally.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.11-16
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• 2020

It is necessary to assess the proper performance of the existing rockfall prevention net in order to minimize the damage to human lives and property in the event of rockfall. However, there is no standard for performance evaluation of rockfall prevention net in Korea, and only the design of rockfall prevention net exists by calculating energy that can be absorbed energy. Therefore, laboratory pullout test was conducted for the performance evaluation of the rockfall prevention net, cuts and load-displacement characteristics of the PVC coating net used in the laboratory pullout test are determined to identify the performance of the rockfall prevention net.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.373-381
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• 2014

It is difficult to predict the magnitude of a rockfall with respect to the shape, volume, and weight of the rock mass, as a rockfall exhibits erratic behavior that depends on the slope geometry, such as the height and dip of the slope. In this study, a field survey was conducted on the slopes of Ulleung-Do, South Korea, where rockfalls frequently occur along coastal roads, to classify the mode of rockfalls and estimate their magnitude. This study also analyzed the effects of rockfall behavior on roads by applying a simulation technique. Agglomerate and trachytic rocks distributed across the study area produce rockfalls in a differential weathering rockfall mode and a toppling rockfall mode. In terms of rockfall weight, trachytic rockfalls were 2-3 times heavier than agglomerate rockfalls. An analysis of rockfall behavior from the simulation indicates that the impact energy on the road exceeded the absorbing energy of a standard rockfall protection fence; however, the rockfall was secured when a ring-net was applied.