Experimental study on the influence of morphological parameters on kinematics of rockfall trajectory

Laboratory work was performed to investigate the influence of rock morphological parameters on the kinematic characteristics of rockfalls. A handheld laser scanner was used to collect the dense three-dimensional (3D) point clouds for the reconstruction of the rock samples. Five morphological parameters were determined based on the 3D reconstruction to accurately quantify the shape of rock samples. The trajectory of rock samples was recorded by a high-speed camera, and particle image velocimetry (PIV) was employed to extract the kinematic parameters of the rock samples. The correlation between the morphological parameters and kinematic parameters of rock samples was analyzed, and the results show that the sphericity and volume filling rate of pebbles have a significant influence on the velocity and final longitudinal distance of rockfall. However, no clear correlation between the morphological parameters and the lateral travel distance was observed from the present tests.