Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Introduction
In this tutorial, we will use the Rigid Body analysis method, which allows you to define rock
shapes, to focus on the effect of rock shape and size. We will demonstrate the following
topics in RocFall:
Importing DXF files
Using different shapes
Defining slope materials
Filtering paths
The finished product of this tutorial can be found in the Tutorial 02 Rock Shapes.fal6 data
file. All tutorial files installed with RocFall can be accessed by selecting File > Recent Folders
> Tutorials Folder from the RocFall main menu.
Model
Start RocFall 6.0 by selecting Programs > Rocscience > RocFall 6.0 > RocFall from the
Windows start menu. RocFall automatically opens a new blank document, which allows you
to begin creating a model immediately. If the RocFall application window is not already
maximized, maximize it now so the full screen space is available for use.
Importing Slope File
For this example we will import the slope coordinates from a DXF file.
Select File > Import > Import Slope from DXF. If necessary navigate to the installation folder
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Rocscience\RocFall 6.0 Examples\Tutorials, and open the file
Tutorial 02_slope_profile.dxf which should be installed in this folder.
The slope should look as follows.
Slope coordinates imported from DXF file
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Project Settings
Select Project Settings from the toolbar or the Project menu.
The default analysis method is Lump Mass which was used in Tutorial 01 Quick Start. With
the Lump Mass method, rocks are assumed to be very small point masses.
In order to use Rock Shapes, you must use the Rigid Body Analysis method. Change the
Analysis Method to Rigid Body, and make sure that Metric Units are selected. Select OK.
Rock Type Library
First, let’s define the rock types for our analysis.
Select Rock Type Library from the toolbar or the Seeder menu.
In the Rock Type Library dialog, change the name of the Group 1 rock type to “Small rocks”.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Select the Smooth Shapes button. In the smooth shapes dialog, select sphere, oval,
hexagon and rhombus using the checkboxes. Select OK in the Shapes dialog.
In the Rock Type Library dialog, we can define the distribution for density, mass and initial
rotation of the rocks. Ensure the Mass is 1000 kg. Set the Distribution to “Normal” with a
standard deviation of 100 in the drop down menu on the right of the mass as shown.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
By default, “3x std. dev.” is selected to calculate the relative minimum and maximum to be
three times the standard deviation. You can always change these values manually. For the
rock Density, we will use 2700 kg/m3 and set its distribution to normal with a standard
deviation of 50.
Now let’s add a second rock type. Use the Add rock type button at the bottom left of
the dialog and change the Name to “Large rocks” and the colour to gold. Change the Mass
to 10,000 kg with normal distribution and standard deviation = 500. For the rock Density,
use 2700 kg/m3 and set its distribution to normal with a standard deviation of 50.
Select the Smooth Shapes button and select Square and Pentagon. Select OK in both
dialogs.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Define Seeder
We are ready to define the seeder.
Select Add Seeder from the toolbar or the Seeder menu.
Enter 1, 44 in the prompt line. The “Seeder Properties” dialog appears once you press Enter.
In the “Seeder Properties” dialog, ensure that both “Small rocks” and “Large rocks” are
selected in the list on the left. Change the number of rocks to 50 per rock type. Change the
Horizontal Velocity with Distribution to “Normal”, Mean of 3 m/s and Standard Deviation of
0.4. Ensure that the relative minimum and maximum are calculated to be three times the
standard deviation.
If this is not done automatically, select the “3x std. dev.” button.
Set the Rotational and Vertical Velocity Mean to zero with distribution set to “None”.
Finally, set Initial Rotation Mean to zero with a distribution set to “Uniform”. Your dialog
should be as shown. Select OK.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Define Slope Materials
Select Slope Material Library from the toolbar or the Slope menu.
For this example we will use the three default materials and leave the properties
unchanged. Select Cancel in the dialog.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Assign Slope Materials
Let’s assign the materials to the slope.
Select Assign Slope Materials from the toolbar or the Slope menu.
Assign slope materials according to the figure below:
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Results
Select Results mode to solve the model. In this mode, the analysis tools appear on the main
toolbar and the rock paths are shown on the slope. You should see the following results.
Animate Paths
Right click on any rock path and select Animate Path from the popup menu. You can
observe how the rock shape travels down the slope. The gold paths represent the large
rocks.
Path of large rock down slope
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
In the Animate dialog, click through different rock paths using the forward arrow
beside the rock id number. Note that the rock ID numbers can be used to differentiate the
large rocks and the small rocks. If you enter rock ID values between 0 and 49, this will
display the paths of the small rocks. Large rocks have id 50 to 99.
If you click the Expand button in the Animate dialog, this will display information about the
current rock (i.e. rock shape and mass) as shown in the figure below.
Path of small rock down slope
Display Contacts
You can view the contact points of a rock shape by right clicking on the path and selecting
“Display Contacts.”
Use this feature to compare the contact points of different shapes. You can always animate
the rock by right clicking on the path and selecting “Animate.” You can zoom in to the
contact points to see them more clearly.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Path and contact points of large rock
Path and contact points of small rock
Rigid Body versus Lump Mass Rock Paths
A frequently asked question for the rigid body analysis, is “why are the rock paths hovering
above the slope??”
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
With the Rigid Body analysis method, it is important to note that the rock paths represent
the path of the centroid of each rock shape. This is why the rock paths do not touch the
slope, even when the rock shapes are in sliding or rolling mode along slope segments.
With the Lump Mass analysis method, since the rocks do not have a physical size, the paths
overlap the slope segments when the rocks are in sliding or rolling mode.
Endpoint Graph
Let’s graph the rock endpoint locations. Select Graph Endpoints from the toolbar or the
Graphs menu. Tile the views horizontally and select F2 in the slope view.
By default the Endpoint graph plots the end locations of all rocks regardless of the rock
type.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
Filter Options
You can filter results by rock type, rock shape and other criteria with the Filter Options
dialog.
Select Filter Options from the Results menu
Set the filter to Rock Type = Small Rocks and view the endpoint histogram.
Clear the filter, and re‐set it to Rock Type = Large Rocks and view the histogram.
As you can see from the filtered results, the small rocks have a broader distribution of
endpoints and on average travel farther than the large rocks. However, since we used
different rock shapes for the large and small rocks, this must be taken into account as well.
11
10
40
30
7
Number of Rocks
Slope Y Location
20 Rocks
5 Slope
3 10
1
0
0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180
Location [m]
Endpoint histogram, rock type = Small rocks
12
11
40
10
8 30
Number of Rocks
Slope Y Location
7
6
20 Rocks
Slope
5
10
3
1 0
0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180
Location [m]
Envelope Graphs
Now let’s view an envelope graph. Select Graph Data on Slope from the toolbar or the
Graphs menu.
Select “Total Kinetic Energy” from the drop down menu. Change the Paths to Plot to Paths
with Selected Rocks, but leave both “Small rocks” and “Large rocks” selected. Hit Plot Data.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
3000
40
30
Total Kinetic Energy [kJ]
2000
Slope Y Location
Small rocks
20 Large rocks
Slope
1000
10
0 0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180
Location [m]
Since we are plotting Kinetic Energy, you can see that the energy of the large rocks (red
curve) is much greater than the small rocks (blue curve), since the large rocks are 10 times
heavier than the small rocks on average.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 2: Rock Shapes
This concludes the Rock Shapes tutorial. You are encouraged to experiment further with
different rock shapes and use the filter options to analyze the effects.
Polygonal Rock Shapes
You can also define Polygonal rock shapes in RocFall. See Tutorial 9 for a comparison of
smooth versus polygonal rock shapes.
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