Back Analysis of a Rockfall Event and Remedial Measures along Part of a Mountainous Road, Western Saudi Arabia
International Journal of Innovative Science and Modern Engineering (IJISME), 3 (2):
1-7 (January 2015)Abstract
Construction of the mountain roads in Saudi Arabia is one of the most difficult tasks. Many problems faced before, during and after construction of the roads. Inhomogeneous rock masses, structural settings, steep slopes, sharp cliffs and geomorphological constraints are the obvious obstacles to safe mountainous roads. Al-Hada mountain road is almost 22 km long shows many incidents of rockfalls. Rainfall took place day before and a week before rockfall. This cause a rockfall of few large blocks to take place, hit a car and break a light lamp. The height of the flying rock is about 12 m above the road level. The RocFall computer program utilized to analyze the event regarding modeling and mitigation. The necessary required rock mass parameters fed to the program. Parameters such as rock blocks size, initiation point, geomorphology and end point are the major factors determining the destructive effect of the rockfall event on the road. Remedial measures recommended according to the modeling process.