Rockfall assessment at Pyramid of Khafre, Giza, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Rockfalls are frequently phenomenon in hilly regions and threatened manmade surroundings as well as loss of human life and property too. Sometime the rockfall also has impact on archeological sites and historical monuments. Therefore, the detachment of large size boulders and their fall track are issues that should be estimated for the safety of the tourist and the historical site. In order to achieve this, several methodologies had been proposed and applied, regarding the evaluation of the rockfall hazard. This paper presents the instability of rock blocks forming the Pyramid at Giza in Egypt. The instability of the blocks possesses a major risk to the tourist as well as the structure of the Pyramid of Khafre. Rockfall phenomena happened in the past that can be identified with the help of rock blocks lying at the base of the pyramid of Khafre due to loosening of the rock blocks. In order to investigate the existing stability conditions and decide upon the protection measures, rockfall analysis was carried out for Pyramid of Khafre. © 2014 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY.