The accumulation and spatial location of damage can lead to the progressive formation of macroscale discontinuities and the possible collapse of portions of rock slopes. Since rock fracturing is accompanied by the generation and transmission of elastic waves that travel through the affected material, an analysis procedure that is able to interpret data, recorded by means of a microseismic monitoring system, is presented in the paper. The procedure is made up of three main parts: the identification and grouping of similar events, the hypocenter location of grouped events and the cross-analysis of the spatial distribution of the source events with the structural setting of the investigated area. The application of this methodology to a dataset recorded by a monitoring system installed on the Matterhorn mountain has pointed out that this approach, which can allow the identification of similar signals arriving in different time periods from different or common areas, can contribute to recognizing areas subjected to a common rupture mechanism, which can concern one single fracture or a set of neighbouring fractures. If signals that are generated over time from a certain area have a waveform with similar characteristics, the rupture mechanism that causes the signals is the same. At this regard, a good knowledge of the local structural setting of the slope and of the characteristics of some documented rockfall events can contribute in supporting the above statement and help focus on areas where failures are kinematically possible.

A microseismic-based procedure for the detection of rock slope instabilities / C., Occhiena; Pirulli, Marina; Scavia, Claudio. - In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROCK MECHANICS AND MINING SCIENCES. - ISSN 1365-1609. - STAMPA. - 69:(2014), pp. 67-79. [10.1016/j.ijrmms.2014.02.020]

A microseismic-based procedure for the detection of rock slope instabilities

PIRULLI, MARINA;SCAVIA, Claudio
2014

Abstract

The accumulation and spatial location of damage can lead to the progressive formation of macroscale discontinuities and the possible collapse of portions of rock slopes. Since rock fracturing is accompanied by the generation and transmission of elastic waves that travel through the affected material, an analysis procedure that is able to interpret data, recorded by means of a microseismic monitoring system, is presented in the paper. The procedure is made up of three main parts: the identification and grouping of similar events, the hypocenter location of grouped events and the cross-analysis of the spatial distribution of the source events with the structural setting of the investigated area. The application of this methodology to a dataset recorded by a monitoring system installed on the Matterhorn mountain has pointed out that this approach, which can allow the identification of similar signals arriving in different time periods from different or common areas, can contribute to recognizing areas subjected to a common rupture mechanism, which can concern one single fracture or a set of neighbouring fractures. If signals that are generated over time from a certain area have a waveform with similar characteristics, the rupture mechanism that causes the signals is the same. At this regard, a good knowledge of the local structural setting of the slope and of the characteristics of some documented rockfall events can contribute in supporting the above statement and help focus on areas where failures are kinematically possible.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2535733
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