A Numerical Investigation on a Novel Approach for Designing Semi-Rigid Barriers for Rockfall Protection Based on Spider Web Geometry

Semi-rigid rockfall barriers are commonly used to mitigate rockfall hazards by preventing rocks from falling into roads and railways paths. Many companies and authorities design these semi-rigid barriers without any clear standards or guidelines. Some guidelines such as the European technical approval of falling rock protection kits (ETAG 027) are occasionally used in testing flexible rockfall barriers. The current study proposes a new approach for designing flexible barriers in general, and semi-rigid barriers in particular. This new approach is inspired by the spider web geometry and its topology. A virtual computer simulation by finite element software ̎Abaqus/explicit is also performed on a semi-rigid barrier that complies with most of the design practices. The results are compared with a previous virtual simulation study of a semi-rigid barrier. The comparison of the results shows that the proposed rockfall barrier design method leads to a better design compared to other previously investigated design methods.