Identification of representative slip surfaces for reliability analysis of soil slopes based on shear strength reduction

Although a slope may have numerous potential slip surfaces, its failure probability is often governed by several representative slip surfaces (RSSs). Previous efforts mainly focus on the identification of circular RSSs based on limit equilibrium methods. In this paper, a method is suggested to identify RSSs of arbitrary shape based on the shear strength reduction method. Monte Carlo simulation is used to generate a large number potential slip surfaces. The RSSs are identified through analyzing the failure domains represented by these samples. A kriging-based response surface model is employed to enhance the computational efficiency. These examples shows that the RSSs may not always be circular, and that the suggested method can effectively locate the RSSs without making prior assumptions about the shape of the slip surfaces. For the examples investigated, the system failure probabilities computed based on the shear strength reduction method are comparable to, but not the same as those computed based on the limit equilibrium methods. The suggested method significantly extends our capability for identifying non-circular RSSs and hence probabilistic slope stability analysis involving non-circular slip surfaces.     

A reliability based approach for evaluating the slope stability of embankment dams

Embankment dams are important and costly civil engineering structures that provide an essential infrastructure for the management of water. One of the critical aspects of dam design is the analysis of stability and safety of the earth structure under various operating and environmental conditions. Traditionally, a deterministic approach is used for such analysis. However, the determination of variables such as soil strength parameters, pore pressure and other pertinent properties involves uncertainties, which cannot be handled in the traditional deterministic methods. It is, therefore, highly desirable to develop a reliability based analytical/numerical methodology for stability analysis of dams taking into account these uncertainties. Reliability and probability theories are developed in this paper for assessing the reliability index and the corresponding probability of failure of multi-layered embankment dams and slopes. Two definitions were used to calculate the reliability index (i.e. the normal distribution and the log–normal distribution). The computer program was developed and validated by the Congress Street open cut failure case. The developed approach was used to study the stability of the King Talal embankment dam. The results are discussed and conclusions drawn.     

Influence of heterogeneity on 3D slope reliability and failure consequence

This paper investigates the influence of heterogeneity of undrained shear strength on the reliability of, and risk posed by, a long slope cut in clay, for different depths of foundation layer. The clay has been idealised as a linear elastic, perfectly plastic Von Mises material and its spatial variability has been modelled using random field theory, whereas slope performance has been computed using a parallel 3D finite element program. The results of Monte Carlo simulations confirm previous findings that three categories of failure mode are possible and that these are significantly influenced by the horizontal scale of fluctuation relative to the slope geometry. In particular, discrete 3D failures are likely for intermediate scales of fluctuation and, in this case, reliability is a function of slope length. The risk posed by potential slides has been quantified in terms of slide volumes and slide lengths, which have been estimated by considering the computed out-of-face displacements. The results show that, for a given horizontal scale of fluctuation relative to the slope geometry, there is a wide range of possible slide volumes and slide geometries. Indeed, the results highlight just how difficult it is to compute a 2D slope failure in a heterogeneous soil. However, they also indicate that, for low probabilities of failure, the volumes of potential slides can be small. This suggests that, for some problems, it may not be necessary to design to very small probabilities of failure, due to the reduced consequence of failure in this case. The techniques developed in this paper will be important in benchmarking simpler 2D and 3D solutions used in design, as there is a need to quantify slide geometries when benchmarking simpler methods based on predefined failure mechanisms.     

样本数与边坡模糊随机可靠指标关系研究

以模糊随机变量理论为指导,视模糊随机变量的均值为模糊数,基于小样本理论推导了均值模糊数模糊变化范围与样本数的关系式。采用截集敏感性分析法进行了边坡稳定的模糊随机有限元可靠度分析,得到了边坡的模糊随机可靠指标及模糊滑面的位置,研究了样本数与边坡模糊随机可靠指标的关系。分析表明,基于模糊随机变量理论的模糊随机可靠度分析方法是随机可靠度分析方法的自然推广;模糊随机可靠指标与样本数有关,随着样本数的改变,模糊随机可靠指标的中值也会发生微小变化,不是定值;在相同的置信度情况下,模糊随机可靠指标的变化范围随着样本数的增加而减小,可通过增加样本数的方式来减小模糊随机可靠指标的模糊性。     

Three-dimensional slope reliability and risk assessment using auxiliary random finite element method

This paper aims to propose an auxiliary random finite element method (ARFEM) for efficient three-dimensional (3-D) slope reliability analysis and risk assessment considering spatial variability of soil properties. The ARFEM mainly consists of two steps: (1) preliminary analysis using a relatively coarse finite-element model and Subset Simulation, and (2) target analysis using a detailed finite-element model and response conditioning method. The 3-D spatial variability of soil properties is explicitly modeled using the expansion optimal linear estimation approach. A 3-D soil slope example is presented to demonstrate the validity of ARFEM. Finally, a sensitivity study is carried out to explore the effect of horizontal spatial variability. The results indicate that the proposed ARFEM not only provides reasonably accurate estimates of slope failure probability and risk, but also significantly reduces the computational effort at small probability levels. 3-D slope probabilistic analysis (including both 3-D slope stability analysis and 3-D spatial variability modeling) can reflect slope failure mechanism more realistically in terms of the shape, location and length of slip surface. Horizontal spatial variability can significantly influence the failure mode, reliability and risk of 3-D slopes, especially for long slopes with relatively strong horizontal spatial variability. These effects can be properly incorporated into 3-D slope reliability analysis and risk assessment using ARFEM.     

Slope reliability analysis accounting for spatial variation

A practical and transparent procedure is described for implementing a generalized limit equilibrium method via cell-object-oriented constrained optimization in the spreadsheet platform. The formulation allows switching among the Spencer, Bishop simplified and wedge methods on the same template by specifying different side-force inclination and different constraints of optimization. Search for the critical circular or non-circular slip surface is possible. The deterministic procedure is extended probabilistically by implementing the first-order reliability method via constrained optimization of the equivalent dispersion ellipsoid in the original space of the random variables. This procedure is illustrated for an embankment on soft ground, and for a clay slope in southern Norway, both involving spatially correlated soil properties. The effects of autocorrelation distance on the results of reliability analysis are studied. Shear strength anisotropy is modelled via user-created simple function codes in the programming environment of the spreadsheet. The meaning of probability of failure is discussed.     

Efficient system reliability analysis illustrated for a retaining wall and a soil slope

Although first-order reliability method is a common procedure for estimating failure probability, the formulas derived for bimodal bounds of system failure probability have not been widely used as expected in present reliability analyses. The reluctance for applying these formulas in practice may be partly due to the impression that the procedures to implement the system reliability theory are tedious. Among the methods for system reliability analysis, the approach suggested in Ditlevsen 1979 is considered here because it is a natural extension of the first-order reliability method commonly used for failure probability estimation corresponding to a single failure mode, and it can often provide reasonably narrow failure probability bounds. To facilitate wider practical application, this paper provides a short program code in the ubiquitous Excel spreadsheet platform for efficiently calculating the bounds for system failure probability. The procedure is illustrated for a semi-gravity retaining wall with two failure modes, a soil slope with two and eight failure modes, and a loaded beam with three failure modes. In addition, simple equations are provided to relate the correlated but unrotated equivalent standard normals of the Low and Tang 2007 FORM procedure with the uncorrelated but rotated equivalent standard normals of the classical FORM procedure. Also demonstrated are the need for investigating different permutations of failure modes in order to get the narrowest bounds for system failure probability, and the use of SORM reliability index for system reliability bounds in a case where the curvature of the limit state surface cannot be neglected.     

Conditional random field reliability analysis of a cohesion-frictional slope

Discarding known data from cored samples in the reliability analysis of a slope in spatially variable soils is a waste of site investigation effort. The traditional unconditional random field simulation, which neglects these known data, may overestimate the simulation variance of the underlying random fields of the soil properties. This paper attempts to evaluate the reliability of a slope in spatially variable soils while considering the known data at particular locations. Conditional random fields are simulated based on the Kriging method and the Cholesky decomposition technique to match the known data at measured locations. Subset simulation (SS) is then performed to calculate the probability of slope failure. A hypothetical homogeneous cohesion-frictional slope is taken as an example to investigate its reliability conditioned on several virtual samples. Various parametric studies are performed to explore the effect of different layouts of the virtual samples on the factor of safety (FS), the spatial variation of the critical slip surface and the probability of slope failure. The results suggest that whether the conditional random fields can be accurately simulated depends highly on the ratio of the sample distance and the autocorrelation distance. Better simulation results are obtained with smaller ratios. Additionally, compared with unconditional random field simulations, conditional random field simulations can significantly reduce the simulation variance, which leads to a narrower variation range of the FS and its location and a much lower probability of failure. The results also highlight the great significance of the conditional random field simulation at relatively large autocorrelation distances.     

Effect of 2D spatial variability on slope reliability: A simplified FORM analysis

To meet the high demand for reliability based design of slopes, we present in this paper a simplified HLRF(Hasofere Linde Rackwitze Fiessler) iterative algorithm for first-order reliability method(FORM). It is simply formulated in x-space and requires neither transformation of correlated random variables nor optimization tools. The solution can be easily improved by iteratively adjusting the step length. The algorithm is particularly useful to practicing engineers for geotechnical reliability analysis where standalone(deterministic) numerical packages are used. Based on the proposed algorithm and through direct perturbation analysis of random variables, we conducted a case study of earth slope reliability with complete consideration of soil uncertainty and spatial variability.     

基于可靠度的黄土斜坡稳定性分析

以延安市宝塔区虎头峁黄土斜坡为研究对象,在野外详细调查和勘查的基础上,分析确定斜坡可靠度的随机变量为滑带土土体容重r、内聚力c和内摩擦角φ。分别用统计矩法、一次二阶矩法、几何法和蒙特卡洛模拟法计算斜坡的可靠度和破坏概率,得出安全系数为1.00~1.15,可靠度指标为0.35~0.45,破坏概率为32%~37%,说明斜坡具有较大的失稳可能性。计算过程表明,用几何法计算所得的可靠度指标精度最高,一次二阶矩法次之,统计矩法计算精度最低,蒙特卡洛模拟法可作为一种校验方法,对其他方法进行校验和对比。在不需要获取传统的定值安全系数的情况下,可用几何法计算斜坡的可靠度指标,方法较为简便。当需要同时获取安全系数时,应使用统计矩法或一次二阶矩法计算。     

Upper bound finite element analysis of slope stability using a nonlinear failure criterion

In this study, upper bound finite element (FE) limit analysis is applied to stability problems of slopes using a nonlinear criterion. After formulating the upper bound analysis as the dual form of a second-order cone programming (SOCP) problem, the stress field and corresponding shear strength parameters can be determined iteratively. Thus, the nonlinear failure criterion is represented by the shear strength parameters associated with stress so that the analysis of slope stability using a nonlinear failure criterion can be transformed into the traditional upper bound method with a linear Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion. Comparison with published solutions illustrates the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed method for a simple homogeneous slope stability problem. The proposed approach is also applied to a seismic stability problem for a rockfill dam to study the influence of different failure criterions on the upper bound solutions. The results show that the seismic stability coefficients obtained using two different nonlinear failure criteria are similar but that the convergence differs significantly.     

A comparative review of commercially-available software for soil slope stability analysis

Summary The main purpose of this paper is to carry out a comparative review of four commercial computer programs for the stability analysis of soil slopes. The review is carried out in two parts and should prove useful for potential users of the software. Part I reviews the facilities offered in terms of the range of limit equilibrium methods, the geotechnical modelling abilities, the operational features and the supporting documentation, and includes a general impression of friendliness. Part II assesses the use, accuracy and validity of each program by presenting and discussing the results of a number of model tests. Also included is a brief discussion of slope stability analysis, in particular the limit equilibrium method. The requirements of a practical computer program for soil slope stability analysis are defined and then used as a means of assessing the effectiveness of each program.     

模糊数学在边坡稳定分析中的应用

边坡稳定性分析是一个非常复杂的不确定问题,其不确定性主要有两种：随机不确定和模糊不确定。实践证明,模糊不确定是比随机不确定更为深刻的不确定性。综述了模糊数学在边坡稳定性分析中的应用,重点阐述了模糊综合评判、模糊参数非概率稳定性分析和模糊随机可靠度的原理、特点及研究现状。针对模糊理论和边坡稳定自身的特点及其研究现状,对模糊数学在边坡稳定性分析应用中存在的问题及未来的发展方向进行了分析,以期为相关研究提供有益借鉴。     

Probabilistic reliability analysis of multiple slopes with genetic algorithms

Uncertainty estimation and consideration in engineering is an important practice to design reliable structures especially in geotechnics since the level of control with regards to the material parameters is relatively low. The definition of reliability indices to approximate the probability of failure allows for a better assessment of stability with fewer computations than using alternative methods. Nonetheless, yet an optimisation problem needs to be solved. In this work, a genetic algorithm is developed to solve this optimisation problem considering the limit equilibrium method to search for multiple critical failures. Study cases are presented to illustrate the capabilities of the method.     

边坡模糊可靠性分析隶属函数取值界限研究

针对岩土参数取值所具有的随机性、模糊性与区间性特征,建议采用隶属函数表征参数取值,分别构造了岩土参数三角形分布、正态分布与拟正态分布隶属函数,并建立了采用隶属函数取值界限表示的不同截集水平岩土参数区间值确定方法,提出分别采用均值加减2.5倍标准差与3倍标准差确定岩土参数三角形分布与拟正态分布隶属函数取值界限,进而以此为基础采用模糊点估计分析方法对工程算例进行分析,结果表明,在截集水平个数为11时,模糊点估计方法所得边坡稳定模糊可靠性指标与蒙特卡洛法所得随机概率可靠性指标精度相当,截集水平个数为9时,评价结果偏安全,建议在工程分析时,截集水平取0.1⁰.9间的9个,该方法计算过程直接简单,计算代价低,更具工程实用性。     

Effect of spatial variability of shear strength on reliability of infinite slopes using analytical approach

This paper develops an analytical approach for reliability analysis of infinite slope stability in presence of spatially variable shear strength parameters. The analytical approach considers spatial autocorrelation of each parameter and cross-correlations between different parameters. It is robust, computational efficient and provides insight to the importance of spatial correlation scale on slope reliability analysis. This paper also explores the difference in continuous and discrete random fields and emphasizes the importance of fine discretization in relation to correlation scale. Finally, it shows that conditioning the stability analysis with information about trends and spatial data leads to reliability assessments with less uncertainty.     

On the use of Bayesian networks as a meta-modelling approach to analyse uncertainties in slope stability analysis

In this paper, we report on the use of Bayesian networks, BNs, learnt from data generated by physical and numerical models, to overcome to a certain degree a number of complications in traditional slope stability analyses that jointly consider the mechanical and hydraulic properties of soils. Discrete Bayesian networks resulted to be useful and efficient to acquire knowledge from simulated data and to identify significant factors by the combined use of backward inference and global sensitivity analysis. Further, BNs enable decision thresholds to be estimated quickly. Along with this, backward inference and global sensitivity analysis are performed in BNs at low computation costs. Moreover, under conditions in which knowledge is scarce, we show how a practitioner can be better informed using the proposed approach. All these previously under-reported modelling features in the specialised literature encourage the further application of the proposed approach to enhance slope stability analysis.     

边坡模糊随机可靠性分析的模糊点估计法

在统计矩点估计法和模糊随机理论的基础之上,提出边坡工程模糊随机可靠性分析的模糊点估计法,将边坡稳定性极限状态方程由模糊随机集向普通随机集转化,然后利用点估计法求解边坡的可靠度指标。鉴于岩土体物理力学参数的近似分布类型,采用区别于梯形模糊数的正态模糊数对随机变量进行模糊随机化处理,使其更趋近于物理力学参数的近似分布类型。该方法考虑了各个力学参数的模糊性,计算结果更能反映边坡的真实工作状态。算例分析结果表明,该法使用简便,计算效率高,结果可靠,避免了传统分析方法的缺点,对复杂边坡或者功能函数为隐式表达的边坡工程可靠性分析具有很大的潜力,为边坡可靠性分析提供了一条新的途径,具有广泛的应用前景。