Back Analysis of a Rockfall Event and Remedial Measures along Part of a Mountainous Road, Western Saudi Arabia
Bahaaeldin Sadagah
Prof. Bahaaeldin Sadagah, Department of Engineering and Environmental Geology, King Abdulaziz University/Faculty of Earth Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Manuscript received on January 01 2015. | Revised Manuscript received on January 06, 2015. | Manuscript published on January 15, 2015. | PP: 1-7 | Volume-3 Issue-2, January 2015. | Retrieval Number: B0771013215/2014©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
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.
Keywords: Al-Hada road, rockfalls, rainfalls, rock slopes.