myGeobrugg
Situation
The Kaikoura M7.8 Earthquake caused widespread damage to the road and rail corridor for 20 km North and South of the Kaikoura township. Over 40 major slips inundated the road and rail with more than 750'000 m³ of material from source zones up to 500 m above sea level. The highly fractured Grey Wacke meant frequent future rockfalls and debris loads were expected. The high rockfall and debris load frequency created the requirement for a Geohazard Solution that attenuated the energy to a manageable level and then guided the material down to a catchment area. Space was limited due to the proximity of the Coastal Pacific rail line. The SK16 site is a narrow, incised catchment that extends about 150 m above road/rail level. The slope angle is about 50-55 degrees.
Description
A 10 meters wide VX080-H2 debris flow barrier was modified to include a 12 meters 16/3/300 ROCCO ring net tail. This system enabled the rockfall and debris energy to be attenuated and guided down to a catchment area at the toe of the slope for easier clearing and reduced maintenance.
Additional support ropes were also installed across the channel to minimise deflection onto the railway. The installation required abrasion protection on the top ropes due to the potential of it being overtopped in above design large events.
TECCO® G65/3 was used as a secondary mesh as a robust solution was required to avoid puncturing failures from the high frequency of smaller high-velocity rocks.
Customer
KiwiRail
Contractor
Rock Control
Protected object
Railway
Corrosion protection
GEOBRUGG SUPERCOATING
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