A Showcase to Components Replacement in Existing Steel Flexible Barrier System

Steel flexible barrier system is commonly adopted as natural terrain hazard mitigation measures for energy absorption of rockfalls from hillside. The conditions and effectiveness of the steel flexible barrier system installed at hillside may deteriorate with time, so maintenance works including replacement of the components may be required. The original supplier for the main components, such as proprietary energy dissipating devices, may be no longer operated in the market, and the replacement of these main components can only be carried out by using similar products from other available suppliers. To check the compatibility of the replacement components with the original steel flexible barrier system, numerical analysis is carried out to analyze whether the performance of the steel flexible barrier system could be maintained after replacing the components. This paper discusses the steps on how to check the conditions of the existing steel flexible barrier system, and the numerical analysis for assessing the compatibility of the replacement components.