Rockfall assessment near Saptashrungi Gad temple, Nashik, Maharashtra, India

Rockfalls are frequent phenomena in hilly regions and have threatened manmade environment as well as generated loss of human life and property. Therefore, the detachment of large size boulders and their fall track represent issues that should be evaluated for urban planning and for the construction of lifelines. In order to achieve this evaluation, several methodologies has been proposed and applied, regarding rockfall hazard. In this paper, a delineation of areas susceptible to rock-falling at the foothills of around the Saptashrungi Gad temple has been investigated. Various cases were simulated and analyzed using numerical tools and pertinent parameters incorporated and calibrated in field and laboratory using silent witnesses. The area mainly comprises compact and amygdaloidal basalt with weak planes of red bole. The outcome of this study is the estimation of simulated fall track and the rockfall bounce height with distance, variation of bounce height with mass of the falling block and dependence of translational kinetic energy on block mass. Bounce height decreases as the mass of the falling block increases whereas translational kinetic energy increases with the mass of the falling block. Also rockfall simulations have been used to know the capacity of the protection barrier and the barrier capacity has found to be 180 kJ for 200 kg of falling blocks.