An experimental study on the characteristics of the impact load of falling rock

Abstract An experimental study on rock falling was carried out to clarify the characteristics of impact load. For this study, a two dimensional dynamometer was constructed and validated to detect and record vertical and horizontal impact loads. Experimental results show that the ratio of horizontal impact load against vertical impact load is larger than expected. There are cases that the ratio is greater than 40%. Moreover, it has been revealed that the direction of horizontal impact loads are both in valley and mountain sides. These results are considered to be very important in evaluating the dynamic response of concrete structures, such as rock sheds, built at the foot of steep slopes.