Towards reliability-based design of rockfall hybrid barriers and attenuators: A focus on the resistances

The conventional design approach for geotechnical structures presented in Eurocode 7 (EC7) shows limitations when dealing with rockfalls. To overcome these limitations, we propose the application of Reliability Based Design (RBD), which describes the relationship between the actions and the system's resistance through the definition of a reliability index. In this work, particular attention has been given to innovative rockfall protection structures such as hybrid barriers and/or attenuators. Considering the applicability of RDB approach, the paper focuses on the response of these structures to the impact of the block and their absorption capacity at different stress levels. In this context, numerical modelling represents a powerful solution to reproduce the behaviour of these structures subjected to dynamic impacts at different Kinetic Energy levels.