Investigation of rockfall-prone road cut slope near Lengpui Airport, Mizoram, India

Abstract

Rockfall is one of severe natural hazards that are frequently reported in northeast region of India. It carries rock block falling from the cliff with high velocities and energies which can result in damages to vehicles, disruption to transportation, injuries and fatalities. The massive rockfall event which occurred in April 2017 on the highway NH-44A, near Lengpui Airport, blocked the traffic for 1 d, and fortunately, no casualties were reported as the event occurred in the night. This is the only highway connecting the Aizawl city to the airport and the region is highly prone to rockfall events. Hence assessment of rockfall along this highway is necessary. In the current study, rockfall hazard assessment has been carried out on three locations by rockfall hazard rating system (RHRS). During pre-failure analysis, the result shows that most hazardous slopes have RHRS score of 639. The slopes were found to be vulnerable and later on the rockfall activity occurred. Three-dimensional (3D) stability analysis has been carried out using 3DEC software package to analyze the failure behavior and to decide the rockfall-prone zone (unstable blocks) for slope. The total displacement of 2.24 cm and velocity of 2.25 mm/s of the failed block have been observed in the numerical analysis. Further, the rockfall vulnerable zone (unstable blocks) is considered to determine the parameters such as run-out distance, bounce height and energies of the falling rock blocks. The maximum total kinetic energy of 5047 kJ has been observed in the numerical analysis with the maximum run-out distance up to 18 m.