A rock shed is a civil engineering structure used in mountainous areas where rock slides and land slides create highway closure problems. A rock shed is built over a roadway that is in the path of the slide. They are equally used to protect railroads.[1] They are usually designed as a heavy reinforced concrete covering over the road, protecting the surface and vehicles from damage due to the falling rocks with a sloping surface to deflect slip material beyond the road,[2] however an alternative is to include an impact-absorbing layer above the ceiling.[3] A further use of this type of structure may be seen protecting the A4 road; although constructed primarily to alleviate risk from falling rocks from a limestone seam[4] it also serves to protect against objects or persons falling from the Clifton Suspension Bridge[5] where the height differential of approximately 70 metres from the bridge to the bottom of the Avon Gorge would give sufficient kinetic energy to even a relatively small item to cause injury on impact.

Rock shed on Nagano Prefectural Road, Japan
Rock shed on Niigata Prefectural Road, Japan

Examples of rock sheds

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Landslide Handbook" (PDF). USGS. pp. 102–103. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  2. ^ "SEISMIC RETROFITTING MANUAL FOR HIGHWAY STRUCTURES: PART 2" (PDF). US Dept of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. August 2004. pp. 127–129. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  3. ^ Chen, Jian-An; Lin, Ming-Lang; Lo, Chia-Ming; Wang, Ching-Ping (12 April 2013). "DEM Simulation of Rock Shed Failure due to Rockfall Impact". EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts. EGU General Assembly 2013: EGU2013-3780. Bibcode:2013EGUGA..15.3780C.
  4. ^ "The cliff face under the Clifton suspension bridge, Avon Gorge, Bristol". Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology. The Geological Society. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  5. ^ Thomas, Ray (18 March 2000). "Bristol Avon Gorge". Retrieved 31 December 2017.