A New Design Method for Rockfall Shelters Covered by Granular Layers

This chapter concerns the definition and the discussion of an uncoupled approach for the design of rockfall protection tunnels. This concerns, in particular, the reinforced concrete structures covered by granular soil strata, and it derives from the interpretation of real scale experimental test on a real structure. The approach is based on the hypothesis of interpreting the mechanical response of the system by starting from the evaluation of the impact force acting at the boulder–soil interface (where the soil is assumed as an infinitely half space), then by describing the propagation of stresses through the soil stratum, which is considered as resting on a rigid support. The experimental basis of the proposed method, and the modelling tools that are employed to analyse the mentioned sub--‐phenomena, are described in dedicated sections. Engineering considerations about the dynamic excitation of the reinforced concrete structure (the sheltering tunnel) are also suggested on the basis of the behaviour observed during experiments. Finally, a section is devoted to an example application of the method.