Description
The Ropeway Systems Technological Laboratory - LATIF carries out inspections and performs tests on aramid barriers and avalanche barriers . In detail, the laboratory performs the following tests
A very special sector is rockfall barriers. Tightness tests are performed in the laboratory on the elements of the protection network and on the dissipators that intervene at the moment of boulder impact.
The most significant tests are the dynamic ones, i.e. the direct and continuous measurement of the stresses on the structure during the impact phase of the boulder in the net.
Various measurements have been performed on a test field near Trento, where the actual test can be carried out, using a concrete block launched from a special cableway.
The speed of descent and the point of release can be adjusted so that the block hits the centre of the net under test. The boulder is subsequently recovered by the same cable car.
The laboratory is present to measure the stresses on the anchors and dissipators, where the phenomenon lasts a few tenths of a second. High capacity load cells have been built and calibrated on site.
Legislation in this sector is lacking and in the process of being defined, particularly from the point of view of experimental tests: in this context, the laboratory can also play an active role in the area of land defence.
As well as in the field of rockfall protection, for some years now the laboratory has also been pushing its research efforts in the areas of avalanche detachment and slope instability protection.
Thanks to the equipment with which the Laboratory is equipped, long-term tests (monitoring) have been carried out to certify the resistance of snow barrier structures.
