A quantitative approach for the evaluation of rockfall risk on buildings

A quantitative rockfall risk analysis at local scale is a complex and difficult task because it should consider both the randomness in the natural phenomenon and the variability of the response of the elements at risk. In engineering systems, such difficulties can be tackled with logical trees. In particular, event trees allow the determination of a set of outcomes of a given event in a probabilistic manner. Following recent publications on the estimation of rockfall risk on infrastructures (roads) by means of the event tree approach, a novel framework for the quantitative evaluation of the effects of the impact of a falling rock block on a building is presented. The method considers the occurrence of a given rockfall event, the kinetic energy of the falling block, the structural response of the impacted elements and the possibility of damage propagation within the building. An example is proposed to show the capabilities of the proposed approach.