• 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.15 no.11
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• pp.53-59
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• 2014

It has been generally recognized that the conventional rockfall protection nets have several problems to actual field application in the aspect of shock absorption, lack of pullout bearing capacities, and net damages. Because of the recognition, authors have tried to develop a new rockfall protection system consisted of shock absorption parts and hexagonal net configuration. In the previous research by the authors, the performance of the newly developed rockfall protection system has been investigated through the laboratory tests and the full-scale testing. In this study, subsequently, numerical analysis program is organized to make a confirmation of the structural stability and performance. For the correct design procedure of the hexagonal net system, it is essential to understand the various mechanical behavior of the entire system. It is also important to be reproduced the systematic characteristics of the system acquired by laboratory and full-scale testing by numerical analysis in order to carry out the numerical experiment to understand various mechanical behavior of the system. As a conclusion, the hexagonal net has better performance in mechanical and physical behavior compared with that of the rectangular net. Furthermore, due to the hexagonal net shows a good performance in aspect of the load distribution, it gives a good alternative in long-term management of the rockfall protection net.