Finite element reliability analysis of reinforced retaining walls

This paper presents the reliability analysis of reinforced retaining wall using finite element method. Response surface approach is used to approximate the performance function and a first-order reliability method (FORM) is used to evaluate the reliability index. In the analysis, displacement response of the reinforced retaining wall is considered as performance function and the corresponding reliability index is evaluated with the aid of a spreadsheet. Uncertainties associated with the soil and reinforcement properties are explicitly taken into account in the analysis. A parametric sensitivity analysis has been performed to bring out the effect of important uncertain parameters by evaluating the sensitivity of the reliability index with respect to each of the uncertain parameters. Results of the response surface method coupled with finite element analysis show the ease and successful implementation of the reliability analysis procedure for the reinforced retaining walls.

[1]  J. M. Duncan,et al.  Factors of Safety and Reliability in Geotechnical Engineering , 2000 .

[2]  Achintya Haldar,et al.  Probability, Reliability and Statistical Methods in Engineering Design (Haldar, Mahadevan) , 1999 .

[3]  G. N. Smith,et al.  The use of probability theory to assess the safety of propped embedded cantilever retaining walls , 1985 .

[4]  A. M. Hasofer,et al.  Exact and Invariant Second-Moment Code Format , 1974 .

[5]  F. S. Wong,et al.  Slope Reliability and Response Surface Method , 1985 .

[6]  Chung-Sik Yoo,et al.  PERFORMANCE OF A 6-YEAR-OLD GEOSYNTHETIC-REINFORCED SEGMENTAL RETAINING WALL , 2004 .

[7]  Craig H. Benson,et al.  RELIABILITY-BASED DESIGN FOR INTERNAL STABILITY OF MECHANICALLY STABILIZED EARTH WALLS , 2004 .

[8]  Victor Elias,et al.  Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls and Reinforced Soil Slopes Design and Construction Guidelines , 1997 .

[9]  Robert E. Melchers,et al.  Structural Reliability: Analysis and Prediction , 1987 .

[10]  Bak Kong Low,et al.  Reliability analysis of reinforced embankments on soft ground , 1997 .

[11]  Richard J. Bathurst,et al.  Calibration concepts for load and resistance factor design (LRFD) of reinforced soil walls , 2008 .

[12]  Jian-Xin Yuan,et al.  New Approach to Limit Equilibrium and Reliability Analysis of Soil Nailed Walls , 2003 .

[13]  Neil Dixon,et al.  Deterministic and reliability-based design: veneer cover soil stability , 2008 .

[14]  Krystyna Kazimierowicz-Frankowska,et al.  A case study of a geosynthetic reinforced wall with wrap-around facing , 2005 .

[15]  Robert V. Whitman,et al.  EVALUATING CALCULATED RISK IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING , 1984 .

[16]  Cee Ing Teh,et al.  Reliability analysis of laterally loaded piles using response surface methods , 2000 .

[17]  C. S. Manohar,et al.  An improved response surface method for the determination of failure probability and importance measures , 2004 .

[18]  I. Kaymaz,et al.  A response surface method based on weighted regression for structural reliability analysis , 2005 .

[19]  R. Rackwitz.  Reliability analysis—a review and some perspectives , 2001 .

[20]  Rachel Lomax.  Stability and Statistics , 2005 .

[21]  C. Manohar,et al.  Improved Response Surface Method for Time-Variant Reliability Analysis of Nonlinear Random Structures Under Non-Stationary Excitations , 2004 .

[22]  Y. K. Wen,et al.  Response Surface Method for Time-Variant Reliability Analysis , 1996 .

[23]  H. Schweiger,et al.  Reliability analysis for geotechnical problems via finite elements - A practical application , 2000 .

[24]  Gregory B. Baecher,et al.  Reliability and Probability in Stability Analysis , 1992 .

[25]  Kok-Kwang Phoon,et al.  Towards reliability-based design for geotechnical engineering , 2004 .

[26]  G. R. Dodagoudar,et al.  Reliability analysis of reinforced soil walls under static and seismic forces , 2008 .

[27]  K. Phoon,et al.  Characterization of Geotechnical Variability , 1999 .

[28]  G. Baecher.  Reliability and Statistics in Geotechnical Engineering , 2003 .

[29]  W. Tang,et al.  Reliability analysis using object-oriented constrained optimization , 2004 .

[30]  G. L. Sivakumar Babu,et al.  Reliability analysis of allowable pressure on shallow foundation using response surface method , 2007 .

[31]  K Hoeg,et al.  Probabilistic analysis and design of a retaining wall : J. GEOTECH. ENGNG. DIV. V100, N673, MAR. 1974, P349–P366 , 1974 .

[32]  Bak Kong Low,et al.  Probabilistic Stability Analyses of Embankments Based on Finite-Element Method , 2006 .

[33]  Chung-Sik Yoo,et al.  Case History of Geosynthetic Reinforced Segmental Retaining Wall Failure , 2006 .

[34]  J. Christian,et al.  Reliability Applied to Slope Stability Analysis , 1994 .

[35]  B. K. Low,et al.  Reliability-Based Design Applied to Retaining Walls , 2005 .

[36]  C. Bucher,et al.  A fast and efficient response surface approach for structural reliability problems , 1990 .

[37]  Anthony T. C. Goh,et al.  Reliability assessment of serviceability performance of braced retaining walls using a neural network approach , 2005 .

[38]  Donald E. Myers,et al.  Reliability and Statistics in Geotechnical Engineering , 2005, Technometrics.

[39]  C. Yoo,et al.  Effect of foundation yielding on performance of two-tier geosynthetic-reinforced segmental retaining walls: a numerical investigation , 2006 .