Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference 2025 (RIC 2025)

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Rockfall Back Analysis of an Experimental Case History

Authors
Mateusz Kazimierczak1, *, Zhanyu Huang2, Brent Corkum2
1University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2Rocscience Inc., Toronto, Canada
*Corresponding author. Email: mateusz.kazimierczak@mail.utoronto.ca
Corresponding Author
Mateusz Kazimierczak
Available Online 7 December 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_49How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Rockfall; Back Analysis; Optimization Methods
Abstract

Rockfall simulation software such as RocFall3 can perform stochastic rockfall modelling and mitigation design. Rock-slope impacts are typically characterized using restitution coefficients, which should be site-specific for a reliable hazard assessment. This paper documents a back analysis procedure for obtaining impact parameters given a recorded test rock trajectory at the Chant Sura Experimental Campaign. The concept of a prior value is introduced to constrain the solution space and to best-fit the back-analyzed restitution coefficients to prior knowledge of the slope. The back analysis was performed using both the lumped mass and rigid body impact theories, resulting in very different best-fit restitution values for the two methods. Increasing refinement was offered by considering the rock shape, the rock initial position and velocity, and the spatial distribution of material contact regions. The rigid body method was found to more realistically simulate the observed physical behaviors of the rock.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference 2025 (RIC 2025)
Series
Atlantis Highlights in Engineering
Publication Date
7 December 2025
ISBN
978-94-6463-900-1
ISSN
2589-4943
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_49How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Mateusz Kazimierczak
AU  - Zhanyu Huang
AU  - Brent Corkum
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/07
TI  - Rockfall Back Analysis of an Experimental Case History
BT  - Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference 2025 (RIC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 493
EP  - 504
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_49
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_49
ID  - Kazimierczak2025
ER  -