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The Rockfall Failure Hazard Assessment: Summary and New Advances

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Understanding and Reducing Landslide Disaster Risk (WLF 2020)

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Abstract

The estimation of rockfall hazards is usually based only on hazards related to rockfall propagation. The rockfall failure hazard is not currently well defined, and only a few studies have truly addressed this topic. The basics of slope stability assessment are reviewed. Here, we propose a summary of the standard methods used to assess susceptibility to rock mass failure, mainly based on techniques from the mining industry or tunneling. Most of them are qualitative. Many susceptibility scales have been described. Due to computer power and the high-resolution topography in real 3D, topography analysis and standard kinematic tests have been adapted and improved to obtain rockfall susceptibility. Hazard assessments based on the power law are one of the best and only ways to obtain a real assessment of rockfall hazard failure; however, they present some drawbacks that must be solved. The most promising avenues of research for rockfall failure hazards are linked to rock mass strength degradation, which is currently observed using high-resolution 3D monitoring of cyclic deformations with hysteresis. These are the resulting movements caused by groundwater circulations, thermal cycles, earthquakes, rainfall, etc. In conclusion, the rockfall hazard will be improved by better understanding these processes in addition to the chemical weathering effect.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, grants #: 200021_127132, 200020_146426, and 200020_159221) for supporting this research. We are thankful to the American Journal Experts for their support, which improved the English language.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne, Institute of Earth Sciences, Risk-Group, GEOPOLIS, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Michel Jaboyedoff

  2. University of Lausanne, Institute of Earth Sciences, Risk-Group, GEOPOLIS, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Mariam Ben Hammouda, Marc-Henri Derron, Antoine Guérin & François Noel

  3. Université Grenoble Alpes—ISTerre, 38400, Saint Martin D’Hère, France

    Didier Hantz

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  3. Marc-Henri Derron
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  4. Antoine Guérin
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  5. Didier Hantz
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  6. François Noel
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Correspondence to Michel Jaboyedoff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. International Consortium on Landslides, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Kyoji Sassa

  2. Faculty of Civil & Geodetic Eng, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Matjaž Mikoš

  3. Port and Airport Research Institute, National Institute of Maritime, Port and Aviation Technology, Yokosuka City, Japan

    Shinji Sassa

  4. Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

  5. Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan

    Kaoru Takara

  6. Department of Civil and Earth Resources, Kyoto University, International Consortium on Landslides, Sakyo-ku Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan

    Khang Dang

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Jaboyedoff, M., Ben Hammouda, M., Derron, MH., Guérin, A., Hantz, D., Noel, F. (2021). The Rockfall Failure Hazard Assessment: Summary and New Advances. In: Sassa, K., Mikoš, M., Sassa, S., Bobrowsky, P.T., Takara, K., Dang, K. (eds) Understanding and Reducing Landslide Disaster Risk. WLF 2020. ICL Contribution to Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60196-6_3

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