by Mavrouli, O.
ABSTRACT
Cultural heritage and historical sites located near the foot of steep rocky walls, are affected by denudation leading to rockfalls of various types, magnitude and intensities. Given the multiple levels of importance of cultural heritage, the effects of rockfalls on historical sites extend from material to intangible, with social and economic consequences. The objective of this work is to present a methodology for assessing the rockfall prop-agation and the probability of reach of a rock block of given size at a location, which is a requirement for the rockfall risk assessment. The methodology is applied to the archaeological site of Delphi. For this purpose, the software Rockyfor3D is used. The required data are the Digital Elevation Model, the location of potential rock-fall sources and the ground characteristics which affect the kinetic characteristics of the rock blocks during their propagation downhill. The analysis is applied for two block sizes: 0.008 m3 and 5 m3. Two analyses are performed. A first one, without considering protection measures, which serves as a basis for the design of protective steel fences. Then a second analysis is run considering the effect of steel fences on reducing the probability of reach of rock blocks. The results indicate that for rock blocks of the order of 0.008 m3, there is a small probability of reach at the Stadium, with a respective reach energy of the order of 2.5 kJ. For the blocks of 5 m3 and without considering protection measures, the reach probabilities at the archaeological site vary from 3% to 29.93% depending on the monument, with reach energies of few thousand of kJ. This implies the need for the installation of protection measures, such as steel fences, and further rockfall interception measures.
