The Evolution of methods for the survey and analysis of rock slopes: a review

Abstract

Rockfalls are a major hazard for human activities, especially in proximity of infrastructures. The steps in the analysis of rockfallsmay include: i) the survey and characterization of rock outcrops, ii) the kinematic assessment and engineering classification of rock masses, ii) stability analysis and rockfall simulations. This research aims to present a toolbox for rockfall hazard studies and risk mitigation. The toolbox has been created combining the existing methods of survey and analysis and new and innovative techniques developed during this project. In particular, the survey techniques that have been analyzed are: i) conventional geomechanical survey, ii) reflex camera-based terrestrial photogrammetry, iii) recently developed Smartphone-based terrestrial photogrammetry and iv) UAV-based photogrammetry. Once evaluated such methods of survey, we discuss the use of gathered data for engineering rock mass classifications and rockfall analyses. The toolbox can represent an innovative and important step in engineering rock slope analyses, allowing to understand advantages and limitations of each survey/analysis technique, not only related to the quality of data and results, but also considering other important aspects, such as the cost, the time of survey and post-processing and the complexity of survey and data management.