Shape of Rocks Strongly Influence Rockfall Hazard

(WSL, September 20, 2021)

After having conducted a multitude of rockfall experiments over the course of four years, a team of researchers from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research and ETH Zurich recently found that the direction in which a rock rolls depends much more on its shape than on its mass. Specifically, while cube-shaped boulders generally plunge straight down the line of greatest slope, wheel-shaped rocks often pull away to one side, thereby threatening a much wider area at the base of the slope. As explained by lead author Caviezel Andrin, these findings not only have important implications for the assessment of danger zones and the dimensions of protective structures, but they will also help to calibrate and refine simulation programs in order to provide enhanced protection against rockfall.