Design of rockfall restraining nets from a discrete element modelling

This paper considers recent contributions concerning metallic structures designed to stop rockfalls. These structures are composed of metallic nets generally made with Anti-Sub-Marine (ASM) rings. A constitutive modelling in finite strains of these nets is presented. The proposed modelling is based on both the experimental and analytical approaches. The local behaviour of the net (the ASM rings) is described in the usual framework of elastoplasticity. This research has led to the development of original computational software, for both industrial and academic purposes. Thus, in order to give a clear indication of the capacity of both modelling and computational software, several examples of simulations are proposed and discussed.