An Efficient Hybrid Simulation Method to Quantitatively Analyze the Flexible Wire‐Ring Net Rockfall Protection Systems

ABSTRACT Flexible wire‐ring net systems are commonly utilized in rockfall protection engineering on geologically unstable slopes. Due to the complex nonlinear behaviors between discrete wire rings, significant computational resources are required for contact searching between nodes in numerical models. Coupling computations of large‐scale systems consisting of flexible structures, rockfalls, and actual terrain still present challenges. In this study, a hybrid simulation method is proposed, combining the high‐precision coordination model with the efficient membrane equivalent method for wire‐ring nets based on an established partitioning principle. Hybrid transition boundaries were built to accurately reproduce impact responses while significantly improving computational efficiency. The hybrid method was validated by establishing a flexible barrier and an attenuator system compared with full‐scale test results, with 11.9% impact force error for the flexible barrier and 8.4% residual kinetic energy error for the attenuator system. This method enables the prediction of rockfall trajectories, energy evolutions, and dynamic responses of structural components. Compared to pure circular beam models, the overall computational time for the attenuator system exceeding 2300 m 2 is reduced by 97.0%, facilitating quantitative design of large‐scale flexible protection systems in situ terrain.