Comparing numerical and experimental approaches for the stochastic modeling of the bouncing of a boulder on a coarse soil

This paper proposes numerical investigations for the stochastic modeling of a boulder impacting a coarse granular soil. The soil is considered as a noncohesive granular medium using a discrete element method and the soil model is calibrated compared to results from half-scale experiments. Based on this numerical model, an extensive numerical simulation campaign is carried out. The statistical analysis of the numerical results allows the definition of a stochastic bouncing model that quantifies most of the variability of the numerical results. Comparisons with classical bouncing models in the field of trajectory analysis highlight that this model expands classical approaches. The comparison of results from real-scale experiments to trajectory simulations based on the stochastic model show the relevance of the proposed approach to modeling rockfall trajectories.