The purpose of this paper is to present the design of a geogrid reinforced embankment to protect the inhabited area of Piuro (Sondrio), in the north of Italy, applying an already conceived mechanical boulder impact model. To define the boulder trajectories, a code based on the ”lumped mass theory”’ was used and 3D probabilistic analyses have been performed. The mathematical model for the soil-structure interaction under dynamic conditions has been developed by considering both the structural and the soil response. The constitutive model employed for simulating the dynamic impact on the embankment is elastic-visco-plastic and is based on the macro-element theory. The yield-locus is determined by using standard limit equilibrium approaches. The embankment is initially considered subject to a breaking mechanism involving the area around the impact point. In case the impact force value is sufficiently large reaching a previously defined limit force, the embankment gets damaged for its entire thickness. To determine this threshold, various three-dimensional failure mechanisms for the embankment but also the global slope stability, by employing both limit equilibrium and a finite element code, have been taken into consideration.
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