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Rockfall events constitute one of the most dangerous phenomena in mountainous areas, which can affect transportation routes. In a risk mitigation perspective, the quantification of the risk for pedestrians and vehicles represents a crucial aspect for authorities. A method tailored to these elements at risk is herein presented. The proposed method is based on a mixed formulation of the Quantitative Risk Assessment and the Event Tree Analysis approaches. According to these procedures, an accurate evaluation of the annual probability of adverse outcomes can be computed considering all the scenarios which can lead to a fatality or to an injury. Vice versa, the method lets to evaluate the allowable traffic condition, given an acceptable threshold for the risk. Furthermore, it serves to quantify the risk reduction in case of installed passive mitigation measures and, thus, to plan the priority of intervention works. An application on a study case in the Italian Alps illustrates the potentialities of the methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-inspired solutions are widely adopted in different engineering disciplines. However, in structural engineering, these solutions are mainly limited to bio-inspired forms, shapes, and materials. Nature is almost completely neglected as a source of structural design philosophy. This study lists and discusses several bio-inspired solutions classified into two main classes, i.e., compartmentalization and complexity, for structural robustness design. Different examples are provided and mechanisms are categorized and discussed in detail. Some provided ideas are already used in the current structural engineering research and practice, usually without focus on their bio-analogy. These solutions are revisited and scrutinized from a bio-inspired point of view, and new aspects and possible improvements are suggested. Moreover, novel bio-inspired concepts including delayed compartmentalization, active compartmentalization, compartmentalization in intact parts, and structural complexity are also propounded for structural design under extreme loading conditions.