They consist of rigid walls, usually made of reinforced concrete (pumped or shotcrete), with ties anchored in the ground, responsible for combating active (or resting) thrusts. These ties, made of special steel monobars or low relaxation steel ropes, are prestressed, pushing the rigid wall against the ground, guaranteeing the stability of the slope and preventing undesirable mass movements.
Technique used to stabilize natural slopes and embankments. Its main stabilizing mechanism is the restriction of deformations in the massif. Unlike tie rods, staples do not have a free section and are defined as passive elements, as they are only required when there is a tendency for mass movement, and are generally not pre-tensioned. Their walls can be made of high-strength wire mesh or shotcrete.
Responsible for directing rainwater to the watercourses. This correct routing prevents excessive infiltration of rainwater, which can damage the stability of the massif. In addition, the correct sizing of the drainage network prevents erosion of the slopes, which can turn into landslides, gullies, etc. These structures generally make containment works last longer.
These are flexible barriers designed to contain or decelerate blocks of rock. This solution is applied when the solution of stabilizing the rock blocks in general becomes economically unfeasible. Dynamic barriers are sized by energy, and must be able to absorb the kinetic energy of the falling movement of the rock blocks through the friction generated in their components.
They are flexible barriers designed to contain or slow down the flow of debris. Debris flow is when mass movement begins to behave in a fluid manner. It has a great deal of energy, and its destructive potential is just as powerful. It is therefore common for interventions with Debris Flow Barriers to have more than one barrier installed, so that all of them together manage to break down the energy of the flow in a consistent manner.
The containments in tunnels are responsible for containing possible detachments of blocks of rock (in the case of a rock tunnel). In underground mining, the main type of mass movement that is covered by the solutions is rockburst, which is a sudden "explosion" of the solid rock, which detaches the mass of rock with a great release of energy. In railway or road tunnels, the use of high-strength stapled mesh prevents blocks from falling onto the permanent way, preventing derailments in tunnels, considered one of the worst types of railway accident.
Slope cleaning is important because it allows you to check for possible pathologies that cannot be seen with a layer of surface vegetation, such as cracks, erosion, etc. In addition, in order to monitor some slopes using prisms, for example, it is necessary to clean the slope so that the topographic equipment can be aimed at the instrument in question. This cleaning can be done manually, mechanized or remotely controlled, depending on the complexity of access to the site and the stability of the slope and/or dam.
It consists of installing devices in previously chosen locations that measure various quantities relevant to the stability of a given massif, such as pore pressures, deformations, water levels, etc. The most commonly used instruments are Piezometers, Water Level Indicators, Inclinometers, Surface Markers, Topographic Prisms, Crack Meter, Settlement Pins. Other instruments can also be installed to check a specific site parameter. This instrumentation can be measured on site or remotely.
The deep sub-horizontal drains are responsible for keeping the water table down, preventing an unwanted rise in the water level of the massif. These elements must be dimensioned according to hydrogeological and rainfall studies for each specific site and the installation of the elements must allow water to be directed away from the massif, thus improving the structure's safety factor.