Abstract:
Rockfall is characterized by the high occurrence and great destructive damage to people and infrastructure, given the lack of noticeable forerunners and complex mechanisms that are difficult to observe directly and provide early warning precisely. Seismic monitoring offers a unique measurement for studying brittle rock slope hazards. The seismic signals emitted by slope dynamic activities from the surface to the subsurface continuously reflect the dynamic state of the monitoring objective. The seismic signals emitted carry abundant information about the event that generated it and allow researchers to reconstruct the event process. The analysis of seismic signals can provide useful information about the movement onset time within a few milliseconds, the location, the kinetic energy, and the volume of the detached rock mass. There are four research targets faced in seismic monitoring applied in rockfall:(1)Recognizing and classifying the correct signals of rockfall from huge seismic events detected automatically and extracting their seismic features; (2)Locating rockfall events with methods such as arrival times, amplitude-source-location, and polarization; (3)Analyzing the physical features(such as volume, kinetic energy, et al.) of rockfall by fitting a seismic attenuation model and a velocity model; (4)Trying to map the rock slope susceptible area and comply with risk early warning. This article discusses recent progress in the application of microseismic technology in the monitoring and early warning of rockfalls, as well as the current shortcomings and future research directions. This study is a review that provides the state of the art of the application of microseismic technology in rockfall monitoring.