28.9.2012: The version 5.1 of Rockyfor3D is made available today. This new version additionally provides the median, 90th, 95th, 98th and 99th percentile of the simulated energies and passing heights for each cell as raster output. It also saves a NetCDF file called Energy_hist.nc, which can be loaded directly in TrajectoVal3D. This program is developed by Crealp and analyses the frequencies of simulated energies for each cell to automatically propose hazard classes. The methodology is based on Cadanav, which has been developed by Jabeyodoff and Labiouse (2004).

27.9.2012: The English, French and German version of the manual of Rockyfor3D v5.1 are finally online.

30.5.2012: By courtesy of one of our members, Guillaume Favre-Bulle, working at GeoVal in Sion (CH), three .bat files that automatically create the raster sets needed for Rockyfor3D using SAGA GIS can be downloaded here. Working with these batch files saves a lot of time for data preparation. A quick guide on data preparation for Rockyfor3D can be downloaded as well.

27.1.2012: The C-coded version of Rockyfor3D is ready. It is 30 - 100 times faster compared to the matlab version, which is a great improvement!

11.11.2011: Rockyfor3D has almost completely been translated into C (~2500 code lines). The first tests show that we can expect a significant increase of the computational speed (at least 30 times faster compared to the matlab code), which is joyful news. We expect being able to deliver the bèta version of the C based Rockyfor3D version to all members in december 2011.

11.11.2011: We would like to focus your attention at a new book on rockfall entitled "Rockfall engineering" published by ISTE/John Wiley & Sons. This is an up-to-date, international picture of the state of the art in rockfall engineering. The three basic stages of rockfalls are considered: the triggering stage, the motion stage, and the interaction with a structure stage; along with contributions including structural characterization of cliffs, remote monitoring, stability analysis, boulder propagation, design of protection structures an risk assessment. Academic contributions are illustrated by practical examples, and completed by engineering contributions where practical purposes are thoroughly considered. This title is intended for engineers, students as well as researchers. The chapter on rockfall trajectory modelling is written by ecorisQ members.

01.05.2011: The Research Center of Engineering Geology of the Institute for Geotechnics of Vienna University of Technology is organising the 6th Colloquium "Rock Mechanics - Theory and Practice" on the 22nd and 23rd March 2012 in Vienna, Austria.

20.04.2011: In the beginning of this summer, the first steps will be undertaken to translate the Rockyfor3D code (currently written in Matlab) into C. This will hopefully increase computational speed significantly and solve many installation problems.

18.04.2011: Small changes in Rockyfor3D v4.0: firstly, creating input data for a "with-forest" simulation is more easy since standnr.asc is not required anymore. Secondly, a special soiltype for asphalt roads has been added. Thirdly, a simulation “with rockfall nets” allows collecting detailed data on the rockfall kinematics since the current program allows the nets to act as calculation or control screens.

14.02.2011: The bèta version of Rockyfor3D version 4.0 has been tested by several members during the last three months. Their feedback has led to several improvements and the "official" release of version 4.0. In addition to the barrier effect of trees, this version allows to integrate the effect of rockfall nets in the simulation.

04.01.2011: A large group of ecorisQ members will meet during the Interdisciplinary workshop on Rockfall Protection in Innsbruck-Igls (Austria) from 17-19 May 2011. This workshop will offer a possibility for users of Rockyfor3D to discuss limits and possibilities of a 3D rockfall simulation model for trajectory studies.

29.03.2010: ecorisQ will organise two Rockyfor3D training courses in June 2010 with support of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Stand Montafon Forstfonds and CREALP. During the morning such a course takes place in the field, and during the afternoon in a meeting room. The 16th of June 2010 we will organise a course in Deutsch/English near Gaschurn (Montafon, Austria) and the 23rd of June 2010 a course en français near Sion (Valais, Switzerland). This course will also show how opensource GIS packages (QGIS and SAGA GIS) can be used for preparing input data for Rockyfor3D.

11.11.2009: With the start of the carnaval season, the first members of ecorisQ received the stand-alone executable of Rockyfor3D. We are anxious to hear about their first experiences.

16.10.2009: The team of Frederic Berger of Cemagref Grenoble, with support of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), succesfully carried out full-scale rockfall experiments on diagonally cut tree stems in an avalanche couloir in the French Alps. The impressive experiments showed the both the efficacy and limits of such protective measures.

20.08.2009: In cooperation with Umwelt Büro Klagenfurt and Geo7, ecorisQ participates in a pilot study on minimal standards for hazard (indication) maps within the framework of the Interreg project MassMove. For this, ecorisQ will carry out 3D rockfall simulations with and without the protective effect of forests in Carynthia, Austria.