CASE HISTORY

Rev: 01, Issue Date January 2009

The Pont di Laval Reinforced Soil Rockfall Embankment
ROCKFALL EMBANKMENT in CRETAZ (Cogne - AOSTA)
Reinforced soil with the Green Terramesh system

Introduction
The aim of this report is to indicate the design principles which have led to the
solution described below for construction of a reinforced soil rockfall embank-
ment - near the town of Cogne (Val dAosta).

On the morning of 5 June 2007 a landslide of large blocks occurred, of up to

30 m3, which affected regional highway 47 in Cogne.
The landslide occurred from the rocky outcrop on the left-hand side near the
town of Cretaz (Pont di Laval), just a few kilometres from the municipality of
Cogne.

Fig 11. View of downstream embankment and toe of upstream

What is a Reinforced Soil Rockfall Embankment?
embankment after construction
GABION WALL
The need to ensure the safety of residential areas, infrastruc-
tures and any other day-to-day situations subject to the risk of
It had grassed over just a few months after the landslides has resulted in the development of types of struc-
hydroseeding. tures for protection against these phenomena, using technolo-
gies aimed at optimising the construction and maintenance
REINFORCED SOIL
Fig 12. View of the two embankments a few months after construction: WITH GREEN FACING costs.
the grassing over and insertion into the surrounding environment may
be seen
Rockfall embankments consist of trapezoidal-shaped soil em-
bankments, located in rolling terrain, to protect residential ar-
eas or infrastructures.
The July 2008 landslide on the Pont di Laval Reinforced Soil Rockfall Embankment REINFORCED SOIL WITH STONE FACING
In the majority of cases the embankment is made of reinforced
soil which has the advantage of keeping the embankment face
The final photo shows the behaviour of the almost vertical, with a consequent saving in construction mate-
rial, reduction of overall size and improved efficiency for stopping
rockfall embankment following a multiple fall of
rock blocks, as its avoids the rolling on the slope. It also provides
large blocks. The behaviour of the embank- a greater impact strength, thereby guaranteeing a greater energy absorption compared with a natural slope.
ment was found to be adequate. A trench may be formed in front of the embankment with the dual aim of intercepting the blocks prior to their impact
against the embankment and collecting the mobilised blocks of rock.
The most frequent types of rockfall barriers are constructed from gabion walls, reinforced soil, on which vegetation
may grow, with steel or synthetic reinforcement and reinforced soils with stone facings and steel reinforcement.

The Pont di Laval case

Following the landslide on 5/06/2007, and after the initial operations
for removal of loose material using explosives, the unstable situation
made further safety measures necessary.
The technical department of Servizio Sistemazioni Idrauliche e
Dissesti di Versante, in collaboration with
Maccaferri S.p.A., prepared the design for
Fig 13. General view of the two embankments in July 2008, after the
construction of two reinforced soil rockfall
collapse of a few blocks embankments, the first 291 metres long
with a height above ground level of approx.
11.5 m and the second 50 metres long with
a height above ground level of approx. 11.5
m, to be located on the site of the Pont di
Fig 14. Close-ups of the blocks which struck the upstream embankment Laval municipal quarry-disposal area.
The construction time for the embankments
Officine Maccaferri S.p.A. was 4 months and the total cost for the
Via Agresti, 6 - P.O. BOX 396 - 40123 Bologna (Italy) Fig 1. One of the rock masses works was approx. 2.6 million euros.
Company with Quality Control system fallen on the road
Tel. (+39) 051-6436000 - Fax (+39) 051-236507
Certified by BVQI with Sincert and Ukas accreditation.
Fig 2. The situation in the area, viewed from above
E-mail: [email protected] - Web site: www.maccaferri.com
Design of a Reinforced Soil Rockfall Embankment Construction of Pont di Laval Reinforced Soil Rockfall Embankment
A rockfall embankment is designed in various phases which must analyse the kinematics The construction of a rockfall embankment is subdi-
of the block, the impact of the block on the embankment and the stability of the embank- vided into successive phases which guarantee the sat-
ment itself. With regard to the mechanism of the design block, it is necessary to identify isfactory outcome and service life of the structure. Fol-
its volume, the characteristics of the trajectory followed and the kinematic parameters of lowing identification of the best location for the em-
the block at impact. bankment - both vertically and horizontally - by an
With regard to the characteristics of the rock from which the block is formed, the type of analysis of the trajectory of the blocks, the foundation
soil it strikes and the irregularity of the ground surface, the impact may occur with various layer must be prepared in order to guarantee good
directions, heights and energy. load-bearing and stability characteristics.
Fig 3. Simulation of the trajectory
At the moment of impact, the block of rock develops a force of falling blocks The reinforcement elements are then installed, taking
against the embankment which generates a penetration. care to place approx. 30 cm of top soil next to the fac-
There are numerous empirical formulae in the literature (e.g. Kar, 1978) which permit an ing covered with geomat, to favour the subsequent
evaluation, in general with the assumption of an elastic-plastic behaviour of the material growth of vegetation.
forming the embankment and a dynamic load that varies with time, of the value of the
maximum impulsive force - from which it is possible to determine the penetration of the The structural embankment must consist of good qual-
block into the embankment. However, these formulae have often proven to be not very ity soil (granular and well selected) with a high drain-
realistic, so Turin Polytechnic has developed the numerical analysis of rockfall embank- age capacity and a high internal angle of friction and,
ments made of reinforced soil on the basis of laboratory test results (e.g. behaviour of the above all, it must maintain its characteristics unaltered
reinforcement material-soil analysis) and back analysis of events. Fig 7. The embankment under construction over time.

Numerical modelling is essential for the correct evaluation of the behaviour of this type of
structure when subjected to impacts, i.e. impulse type forces. The embankment may not The embankment is placed and compacted in succes-
be considered to be a continuous and isotropic body, and under dynamic conditions it is sive layers with thicknesses of not more than
subject to large deformations and plasticization of the elements, so it falls outside the for- 30-35 cm, using traditional plant (rollers, vibrating
mulae of construction science and conventional mechanics. plates, etc.). After the embankment has been com-
In particular, by making reference to the full-scale tests carried out in the past, it was no- pleted the outer face must be hydroseeded to favour
ticed that a reinforced soil embankment subject to the impact of a rock block dissipates the the growth of vegetation.
kinetic energy with two distinct phenomena: the compaction and plasticization of the soil in
the area of impact, with the consequent formation of the imprint on the embankment face, In the specific case of Pont di Laval the Terramesh
and the subsequent movement in a downstream direction of the paths involved in the im- system was used, which consists of pre-assembled
pact in question. units where the reinforcement is plastic coated double-
twist wire mesh (mesh size 8x10 cm, wire diameter
An analysis was carried out with the numerical modelling of the Terramesh type embank- 2.7i.-3.7e.), whilst the outer face consists of stiffening
ment structure made with Officine Maccaferri materials. The numerical modelling was de- weldmesh and a coconut biomat (ref. detail, Fig. 10).
veloped using the ABAQUS/Explicit finite elements software package in the dynamic
field. The stability analyses to determine the strength, length
and spacing of the reinforcements have been carried
Fig 4. Simulation of the An analysis of the modelling results has shown how reinforced soil embankments support out with the Macstars 2000 software package
movements of the Fig 8. Compaction phase
impacts with an energy of much higher than 5000 kJ, keeping the deformation of the down- (Maccaferri Stability Analysis of Reinforced Soils).
embankment body following
stream facing decidedly low.

Following definition of the extent of the penetration and the impact force
of the block, the stability must be checked to ensure that all the curvilin-
ear surfaces which repre-
sent possible sliding
mechanisms, through the
structural embankment
(internal check) (Fig. 5)
and in the surrounding soil
(global check) (Fig. 6),
have a safety factor which
is greater than a value set
by the designer, in accor-
dance with the provisions
Fig 5. Example of stability check inside embankment
Fig 6. Example of global stability checks for a
of the current standards. body, for the reinforcements of a reinforced soil
reinforced soil embankment. The check may be embankment The interaction between reinforcement
performed with limit state methods (MacStaRS 2000 - and backfill soil is checked in this analysis Fig 10. Diagram of the characteristics of the Terramesh system
www.maccaferri.com) (MacStaRS 2000 - www.maccaferri.com) element Fig 9. During embankment construction, view from downstream (SR47)