考虑参数空间变异性的非饱和土坡可靠度分析

在考虑多个土体参数空间变异性的基础上,提出了基于拉丁超立方抽样的非饱和土坡稳定可靠度分析的非侵入式随机有限元法。利用Hermite随机多项式展开拟合边坡安全系数与输入参数间的隐式函数关系,采用拉丁超立方抽样技术产生输入参数样本点,通过Karhunen-Loève展开方法离散土体渗透系数、有效黏聚力和内摩擦角随机场,并编写了计算程序NISFEM-KL-LHS。研究了该方法在稳定渗流条件下非饱和土坡可靠度分析中的应用。结果表明：非侵入式随机有限元法为考虑多个土体参数空间变异性的非饱和土坡可靠度问题提供了一种有效的分析工具。土体渗透系数空间变异性和坡面降雨强度对边坡地下水位和最危险滑动面位置均有明显的影响。当降雨强度与饱和渗透系数的比值大于0.01时,边坡失效概率急剧增加。当土体参数变异性或者参数间负相关性较大时,忽略土体参数空间变异性会明显高估边坡失效概率。     

基于多源试验数据空间变异土体参数概率反演及边坡可靠度更新

岩土工程现场勘察试验通常只能获得有限的试验数据,据此难以真实地量化土体参数的空间变异性。提出了考虑土体参数空间变异性的概率反演和边坡可靠度更新方法,基于室内和现场两种不同来源的试验数据概率反演空间变异参数统计特征和更新边坡可靠度水平,并给出了计算流程。此外为合理地描述土体参数先验信息,发展了不排水抗剪强度非平稳随机场模型。最后通过不排水饱和黏土边坡算例验证了提出方法的有效性,并探讨了试验数据和钻孔位置对边坡后验失效概率的影响。结果表明：提出方法实现了空间变异土体参数概率反演与边坡可靠度更新的一体化,基于有限的多源试验数据概率反演得到的土体参数均值与试验数据非常吻合,明显降低了对参数不确定性的估计,更新的边坡可靠度水平显著增加。受土体参数空间自相关性的影响,试验数据对钻孔取样点附近区域土体参数统计特征更新的影响明显大于距离取样点较远区域。     

边坡稳定可靠性的随机有限元分析

随机有限元法可以处理土性参数的变异性和空间相关性。对二阶摄动随机有限元法的摄动理论和程序进行了研究，提出了偏导矩阵的组集方法，采用正态分布随机变量的正交变换法来提高计算效率。考虑土性参数随机场作用和土性指标之间的互相关性，建立边坡局部抗剪和总体稳定性可靠度的随机有限元分析模型，对某实际土坡进行了可靠度计算，计算结果较为符合实际。     

不排水抗剪强度非平稳随机场模拟及边坡可靠度分析

边坡可靠度分析中通常假定采用平稳或准平稳随机场表征土体参数的空间变异性,然而大量现场试验数据表明,土体参数如不排水抗剪强度沿土体埋深常呈现明显的非平稳分布特征,即其均值和标准差均随埋深发生变化,因此亟需发展土体参数非平稳随机场模型及其模拟方法。针对目前不能有效单独模拟土体参数趋势分量和随机波动分量的不确定性,提出了一种有效的不排水抗剪强度参数非平稳随机场模型,并给出了土体参数二维非平稳随机场模拟方法计算流程,同时将新提出的模型与现有非平稳随机场模型及平稳随机场模型进行了系统比较。最后通过不排水饱和黏土边坡算例验证了提出模型的有效性,并揭示了不排水抗剪强度非平稳分布特征对边坡可靠度的影响规律。结果表明：提出模型能够有效地单独模拟土体参数趋势分量和随机波动分量的不确定性,考虑土体参数均值和标准差随埋深增加而增大的特性,可为表征土体参数非平稳分布特征提供了一条有效的途径。此外,与采用非平稳随机场模拟土体参数空间变异性相比,采用常用的平稳随机场模型会低估边坡失效概率,从而造成偏危险的边坡工程设计方案。     

基于FELA的随机场方法在考虑降雨入渗的边坡开挖稳定性分析中的应用

黑山共和国南北高速公路项目部分路段处于复理石地区,降雨集中、空间变异性显著且分层分布的岩土体给道路边坡施工带来了挑战。条分法、常规有限元法等确定性分析方法不能考虑岩土材料的不确定性,给出的具有唯一性、确定性的结果不能反映边坡稳定的不确定性。以该工程某边坡为例,采用有限元极限分析方法（FELA）,考虑岩土材料强度的空间变异性,利用上下限解法得出安全系数的分布区间。由勘察资料得到材料均值、标准差和空间相关长度并重建描述抗剪强度指标的二维随机场,同时考虑开挖岩层的节理分布,分析边坡在分级开挖过程中,各施工步骤的稳定性和破坏模式。与有限元分析结果相比,随机场条件下,部分情况开挖阶段安全系数低于限值,并出现局部破坏和整体破坏两种形式。结合不饱和土理论,模拟暴雨情况下雨水的入渗深度并在饱和区采用降低后的强度参数重新计算。通过蒙特卡洛模拟,得到各工况下安全系数、滑动体体积、挡墙弯矩和锚杆内力的概率密度分布函数。挡墙结构约束土体的变形,使得破坏模式趋向于整体破坏,安全系数分布区间变小。锚杆能带动更多土体进入工作状态,同样约束安全系数分布区间。旱季施工与雨季施工边坡破坏区域不同,同等支护条件下,雨季边坡安全系数分布区间更大,且均值明显降低。      

考虑参数空间变异结构的结构化交叉约束随机场模拟方法研究

斜坡岩土体抗剪强度参数的空间变异性具有一定的结构性。为研究岩土体参数空间变异结构对边坡失效概率的影响,依据变异函数的内涵推导出变程与相关距离的数学变换关系,并在此基础上提出了结构化交叉约束随机场模拟方法,用以模拟具有互相关性的参数随机场。建立了结构化交叉约束随机场计算模型,研究不同空间变异结构的抗剪强度参数对边坡失效概率的影响。研究结果表明:结构化交叉约束随机场可用于生成模拟具有复杂各向异性空间变异结构的参数随机场,由于考虑了随机偏差、条件数据和空间变异结构,能较为真实地反映地层实际参数,数据波动较条件参数插值场小。可靠性分析结果表明:不考虑抗剪强度参数空间结构分析易高估边坡的失效概率;考虑c′和φ′互相关性时,失效概率随着相关系数的增加而增加,当参数间呈负相关性时更容易高估边坡的失效概率。     

土石坝坡三维随机有限元整体可靠度分析

考虑边坡工程中土的物理力学参数在三维空间上分布的随机变异特性,建立了抗剪强度折减法和蒙特卡罗法相结合的随机有限元法,用以计算边坡的整体稳定可靠度.以某心墙土石坝为例,对土料的容重、凝聚力和内摩擦角的三维空间随机场进行了模拟,计算了整体稳定可靠度.计算结果表明,该方法用于边坡整体稳定可靠度分析是切实可行的.     

边坡可靠度分析的非侵入式随机有限元法

提出基于非侵入式随机有限元法的边坡可靠度分析方法,并编写计算程序NISFEM。采用有限元滑面应力法计算边坡安全系数,将Hermite随机多项式展开与SIGMA/W和SLOPE/W模块有机结合实现边坡可靠度非侵入式随机分析。根据随机多项式展开系数,给出边坡安全系数前4阶统计矩（均值、标准差、偏度和峰度）和Sobol指标解析表达式,并采用Sobol指标进行边坡可靠度参数敏感性分析。最后,以均质土坡可靠度问题为例,证明该方法在边坡可靠度分析中的有效性。结果表明,边坡可靠度分析的非侵入式随机有限元法能够有效地考虑边坡变形对边坡可靠度的影响,计算效率远远高于蒙特卡罗模拟方法（MCS）,是解决复杂边坡可靠度问题一种有效地分析手段;黏聚力和内摩擦角变异性对边坡安全系数前四阶统计矩具有明显的影响,重度变异性对安全系数前4阶统计矩几乎没有影响;抗剪强度参数间负相关性对边坡安全系数均值几乎没有影响,但对安全系数标准差、偏度和峰度均有明显的影响。此外,随着抗剪强度参数间负相关性的增加,边坡安全系数由近似正态分布逐渐变为明显的非正态分布。     

Bayes约束随机场下坝基溶蚀区随机模拟方法及其影响分析

基于完全随机场模拟溶蚀岩体可能会高估其空间变异性和不能有效地利用溶蚀以外的地质信息和实践经验,提出用Bayes约束参数随机场模型描述坝基溶蚀区的随机模拟方法。引入Bayes公式,对溶蚀区域岩土参数的统计特性进行修正,反映出地质勘测的新增地质信息和试验参数信息,建立约束随机场,并在此基础上进行随机有限元分析,研究坝基溶蚀对大坝结构性态的作用效应。计算结果表明,相对于完全随机场模型,Bayes约束随机场模型更为客观地考虑了溶蚀岩体的空间变异性,有效地降低了溶蚀参数完全随机场下结构响应的模拟方差。在概率分析过程中,推荐蒙特卡洛响应面耦合方法（MC-RSM）作为适用于复杂工程的随机模拟方法,该方法能够代替直接MC法对同样力学机制的不断重复,减小计算时间成本。     

有限数据条件下边坡可靠度分析的Bootstrap方法

基于Bootstrap抽样技术提出了有限数据条件下边坡可靠度分析方法。简要介绍了传统的边坡可靠度分析方法。采用Bootstrap方法模拟了抗剪强度参数概率分布函数的统计不确定性。以无限边坡为例研究了抗剪强度分布参数和分布类型不确定性对边坡可靠度的影响规律。结果表明：基于有限数据估计的样本均值、样本标准差和AIC值具有较大的变异性,这种变异性进一步导致了抗剪强度参数概率分布函数存在明显的统计不确定性。在考虑抗剪强度参数概率分布函数的统计不确定性时,边坡可靠度指标应为具有一定置信度水平的置信区间,而不是传统可靠度分析中的固定值。边坡可靠度指标的置信区间变化范围随安全系数的增加而增大,同时考虑分布参数和分布类型不确定性计算的可靠度指标具有更大的变异性和更宽的置信区间变化范围。Bootstrap方法为有限数据条件下抗剪强度参数概率分布函数统计不确定性的模拟以及边坡可靠度的评估提供了一条有效的途径。     

基于高效随机有限元法的边坡风险评估

提出了基于子集模拟的边坡风险评估的高效随机有限元法（RFEM）,推导了基于子集模拟的边坡失效概率和失效风险的计算公式,并给出了基于高效RFEM的边坡可靠度分析和风险评估流程图。采用一个边坡算例验证了所提方法的有效性。结果表明,基于子集模拟的高效RFEM可以视为是对基于蒙特卡洛模拟的传统RFEM的改进,显著地提高了失效概率和失效风险的计算效率以及失效样本的产生能力,非常适用于分析小失效概率的可靠度问题,极大地增强了RFEM在边坡可靠度分析和风险评估中的实用性。高效RFEM将边坡的整体失效风险分解为对应不同概率水平的边坡失效风险,并量化了它们对整体风险的相对贡献度。在该方法中,边坡可靠度分析和风险评估与确定性边坡有限元分析互不耦合,极大地简化了它们的计算过程。此外,土体不排水抗剪强度的竖向空间变异性对边坡失效风险具有显著的影响。     

Influence of length effect on embankment slope reliability in 3D

Embankment slopes composed of spatially variable soils have a variety of different failure modes that are affected by the correlation distances of the material properties and the geometry and total length of the slope. This paper examines the reliability of soil slopes for embankments of different length and uses parallel computing to analyse very long embankments (up to 100 times the embankment height) for a clay soil characterised by a spatially varying undrained shear strength. Based on a series of analyses using the 3D random finite element method (RFEM), it is first shown that the reliability of slopes of various length can be efficiently computed by combining simple probability theory with a detailed 3D RFEM analysis of a representative shorter slope of length 10 times the slope height. RFEM predictions of reliability indices for longer slopes are then compared with results obtained using Vanmarcke's (1977a) simplified 3D method and Calle's (1985) extended 2D approach. It is shown that these methods can give significantly different results, depending on the horizontal scale of fluctuation relative to the slope length, with RFEM predicting a lower slope reliability than the Vanmarcke and Calle solutions in all cases. The differences in the solutions are evaluated and attributed to differences in the assumed and computed failure surface geometries.     

Enhancement of random finite element method in reliability analysis and risk assessment of soil slopes using Subset Simulation

Random finite element method (RFEM) provides a rigorous tool to incorporate spatial variability of soil properties into reliability analysis and risk assessment of slope stability. However, it suffers from a common criticism of requiring extensive computational efforts and a lack of efficiency, particularly at small probability levels (e.g., slope failure probability P _f ?<?0.001). To address this problem, this study integrates RFEM with an advanced Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) method called “Subset Simulation (SS)” to develop an efficient RFEM (i.e., SS-based RFEM) for reliability analysis and risk assessment of soil slopes. The proposed SS-based RFEM expresses the overall risk of slope failure as a weighed aggregation of slope failure risk at different probability levels and quantifies the relative contributions of slope failure risk at different probability levels to the overall risk of slope failure. Equations are derived for integrating SS with RFEM to evaluate the probability (P _f ) and risk (R) of slope failure. These equations are illustrated using a soil slope example. It is shown that the P _f and R are evaluated properly using the proposed approach. Compared with the original RFEM with direct MCS, the SS-based RFEM improves, significantly, the computational efficiency of evaluating P _f and R. This enhances the applications of RFEM in the reliability analysis and risk assessment of slope stability. With the aid of improved computational efficiency, a sensitivity study is also performed to explore effects of vertical spatial variability of soil properties on R. It is found that the vertical spatial variability affects the slope failure risk significantly.     

Probabilistic failure analysis of infinite slopes under random rainfall processes and spatially variable soil

Rainfall-induced landslides occur during or immediately after rainfall events in which the pore water pressure builds up, leading to shallow slope failure. Thereby, low permeability layers result in high gradients in pore water pressure. The spatial variability of the soil permeability influences the probability such low permeability layers, and hence the probability of slope failure. In this paper, we investigate the influence of the vertical variability of soil permeability on the slope reliability, accounting for the randomness of rainfall processes. We model the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil with a one-dimensional random field. The random rainfall events are characterised by their duration and intensity and are modelled through self-similar random processes. The transient infiltration process is represented by Richards equation, which is evaluated numerically. The reliability analysis of the infinite slope is based on the factor of safety concept for evaluating slope stability. To cope with the large number of random variables arising from the discretization of the random field and the rainfall process, we evaluate the slope reliability through Subset Simulation, which is an adaptive Monte Carlo method known to be especially efficient for reliability analysis of such high-dimensional problems. Numerical investigations show higher probability of slope failure with increased spatial variability of the saturated hydraulic conductivity and with more uniform rainfall patterns.     

Probabilistic analysis of simple slopes with cohesive soil strength using RLEM and RFEM

The 2D random finite element method and the one-dimensional and 2D random limit equilibrium method are used to investigate the influence of spatial variability of soil strength parameters on the probability of failure of simple soil slopes with cohesive undrained shear strength. The combined influence of spatial variability of soil properties and cross-correlation between undrained soil strength and unit weight on the computed probability of failure is explored. The paper identifies conditions where numerical outcomes are similar and where they are not. The limitations of each analysis method are described and implications to analysis and design are identified.

Abbreviations: FEM: finite element method; LEM: limit equilibrium method; RFEM: random finite element method; RLEM: random limit equilibrium method     

二维随机场下边坡稳定性的径向基函数神经网络分析法

岩土参数的随机性会直接影响边坡稳定性评价结果的精度。首先,依据边坡参数的常用分布特征,利用拉丁超立方抽样法生成若干组边坡土性参数和几何参数的随机样本,用有限元强度折减法求解各组样本对应的边坡安全系数。再考虑土性参数的空间变异性,在二维随机场模型下将蒙特卡罗模拟和有限元强度折减法相结合求解各组样本对应的边坡失效概率。然后,利用样本数据及其安全系数和失效概率对径向基函数（RBF）神经网络进行训练和测试,从而建立边坡安全系数和失效概率的预测模型。算例表明,二维随机场模型能相对精确地考虑参数的空间变异性;在此基础上建立的神经网络模型对边坡的安全系数和失效概率具有较高的预测精度,且能极大地节省边坡稳定性分析的时间。     

Probabilistic modelling of auto-correlation characteristics of heterogeneous slopes

Spatial variability of soil materials has long been recognised as an important factor influencing the reliability of geo-structures. This study stochastically investigates the influence of spatial variability of shear strength on the stability of heterogeneous slopes, focusing on the auto-correlation function, auto-correlation distance and cross-correlation between soil parameters. The finite element method is merged with the random field theory to probabilistically evaluate factor of safety and probability of failure via Monte-Carlo simulations. The simulation procedure is explained in detail with suggestions on improving efficiency of the Monte-Carlo process. A simple procedure to create cross-correlation between random variables, which allows direct comparison of the influence of each strength variable, is discussed. The results show that the auto-correlation distance and cross-correlation can significantly influence slope stability, while the choice of auto-correlation function only has a minor effect. An equation relating the probability of failure with the auto-correlation distance is suggested in light of the analyses performed in this work and other results from the literature.     

Neural network prediction of the reliability of heterogeneous cohesive slopes

The reliability of heterogeneous slopes can be evaluated using a wide range of available probabilistic methods. One of these methods is the random finite element method (RFEM), which combines random field theory with the non‐linear elasto‐plastic finite element slope stability analysis method. The RFEM computes the probability of failure of a slope using the Monte Carlo simulation process. The major drawback of this approach is the intensive computational time required, mainly due to the finite element analysis and the Monte Carlo simulation process. Therefore, a simplified model or solution, which can bypass the computationally intensive and time‐consuming numerical analyses, is desirable. The present study investigates the feasibility of using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to develop such a simplified model. ANNs are well known for their strong capability in mapping the input and output relationship of complex non‐linear systems. The RFEM is used to generate possible solutions and to establish a large database that is used to develop and verify the ANN model. In this paper, multi‐layer perceptrons, which are trained with the back‐propagation algorithm, are used. The results of various performance measures indicate that the developed ANN model has a high degree of accuracy in predicting the reliability of heterogeneous slopes. The developed ANN model is then transformed into relatively simple formulae for direct application in practice. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.