Tutorial 5 Slope Roughness
• Rigid Body Analysis
• Slope Roughness
• Endpoint Graphs
RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 5: Slope Roughness
Introduction
In this tutorial we will demonstrate the Slope Roughness option for Rigid Body analysis. The
Slope Roughness option allows you to generate physical geometric roughness along
selected slope segments, by defining spacing and amplitude statistical distributions for
selected materials.
The finished product of this tutorial can be found in the file Tutorial 05 Slope
Roughness.fal6 in the tutorial installation directory.
Model
From the RocFall main menu select File > Recent Folders > Tutorials Folder and open the
Tutorial 05 initial.fal6 file. You should see the following model.
All slope and rock properties have already been defined. NOTE:
The rigid body rock shape is a 1000 kg sphere
Number of rocks = 50
The Slope Roughness is NOT enabled.
Results
We’ll first look at the results without any slope roughness assigned. Select Results.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 5: Slope Roughness
Rock paths with no slope roughness
Select Graphs > Graph Endpoints. Right‐click on the graph and select Toggle End Reasons.
Distribution of Rock Path End Locations
50
40
-10
30
Number of Rocks
Slope Y Location
Edge Model
Stopped
Slope
20
-20
10
0
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Location [m]
Total number of rock paths: 50
As you can see, most of the rocks have simply reached the end of the model without
stopping.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 5: Slope Roughness
Slope Roughness
We’ll now look at how adding slope roughness will affect the results.
Select Slope > Slope Material Library.
Click on material Type Two. Select the “Slope Roughness” checkbox. Keep the default
Spacing and Amplitude values. The Spacing is set to 0.2m with no statistical distribution
assigned. The Amplitude is normally distributed around a mean value of 0m, with a
standard deviation of 0.2m.
Do the same for material Type Three (i.e. enable the slope roughness with default values).
Results
Select the Results mode to run the analysis.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 5: Slope Roughness
Rock paths with slope roughness defined for materials Two and Three
The rockfall paths differ significantly from the model with no slope roughness.
Select Graphs > Graph Endpoints. Right‐click on the graph and select Toggle End Reasons.
Distribution of Rock Path End Locations
0
9
6
-10
Number of Rocks
Slope Y Location
Edge Model
5 Stopped
Wedged
C hattering time out
Slope
-20
0
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Location [m]
Total number of rock paths: 50
The rock endpoint graph is very different compared to the model with no roughness. Many
rocks have come to rest on the upper bench and bottom of the slope, although some still
reach the end of the model.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 5: Slope Roughness
Animate Paths
Now select the Animate Paths option.
In the Animate dialog, click through each rock path using the forward arrow beside the rock
id number. Notice that each time you view a new rock path, you can see the actual slope
roughness generated for each rock throw. The slope roughness is randomly generated
according to the spacing and amplitude statistics you have defined for the roughness.
As you view the different rock paths, notice the actual roughness generated for the material
two and material three segments. For the spacing and amplitude values we have entered,
the physical roughness is very jagged and not very realistic for an actual slope surface.
Close‐up of slope roughness on Type Two material
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 5: Slope Roughness
Close‐up of slope roughness on Type Three material
Let’s modify the slope roughness parameters and re‐run the analysis, to achieve a more
realistic modeling of the surface roughness. Close the Animate dialog.
Model
Select Design Mode, and select Slope Material Library.
Click on the Type Two material.
Change the Spacing to 0.5 (no statistical distribution)
For Amplitude change the standard deviation to 0.1 and the relative min and max to
0.3
Click on the Type Three material and enter the same slope roughness parameter as Type
Two. Select OK.
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 5: Slope Roughness
Results
Select Results mode to run the analysis.
Rock paths with modified slope roughness
The rock paths look similar to the previous model. Let’s view the rock endpoints.
Select Graphs > Graph Endpoints. Right‐click on the graph and select Toggle End Reasons.
Distribution of Rock Path End Locations
12
0
11
10
7 -10
Number of Rocks
Slope Y Location
Edge Model
6 Stopped
Wedged
Slope
3 -20
0
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Location [m]
Total number of rock paths: 50
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RocFall v.6.0 Tutorial Manual Tutorial 5: Slope Roughness
Compare the distribution of endpoints to the previous model, and compare the End
Reasons. With the reduced slope roughness, a greater proportion of rocks have Stopped;
fewer rocks have Wedged; and we have eliminated the “Chattering Time Out” End Reason,
which is a numerical issue where rocks have essentially stopped but continue to move
slightly and must be arbitrarily stopped. It is preferable that “chattering” is avoided, if
possible.
Animate
Animate the rock paths and observe the slope roughness generated with the new spacing
and amplitude parameters for each rock path.
Close‐up of slope roughness on Type Two material (modified)
Close‐up of slope roughness on Type Three material (modified)
In general the modified slope roughness parameters (increased spacing and decreased
amplitude variability) give a more realistic slope surface roughness.
To achieve a realistic surface roughness, it is recommended that you always experiment
with the spacing and amplitude parameters, and observe the generated surfaces, in order
to simulate the actual field conditions as closely as possible.
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