Rock Fragmentation Module in 3-D Rock-fall Analysis

A fragmentation model to predict rock fragmentation upon impact in rockfall modeling was developed utilizing the impact simulation results obtained using a discrete element code developed by the first author. The code was validated in static and dynamic regimes. Because it takes a relatively long time to run an impact simulation directly using the developed discrete element code, a large set of impact simulations covering different impact scenarios has been carried out to populate a database. This database was then used to construct a fragmentation module by either neural network model or multi-dimensional linear interpolation. The details of the fragmentation module are presented in the paper. The developed fragmentation module using the interpolation method has been successfully integrated into the existing 3D rockfall simulation code HY-STONE to perform rockfall analyses that account for impact fragmentation. Copyright 2010 ARMA, American Rock Mechanics Association.