基于Bootstrap方法的岩土体参数联合分布模型识别

小样本容量岩土体参数最优联合概率分布模型的识别是一个富有挑战性的问题。基于Bootstrap提出了小样本容量岩土体参数最优边缘分布函数和最优Copula函数识别方法。简要介绍了岩土体参数联合概率分布函数构造的Copula方法,采用AIC准则识别最优的边缘分布函数和Copula函数。将识别结果表示为不同备选边缘分布函数和Copula函数为最优边缘分布和最优Copula的权重系数集合,以基桩荷载-位移双曲线参数试验数据为例证明了所提方法的有效性。结果表明：基于小样本容量岩土体参数试验数据估计的样本均值、标准差和相关系数具有较大的离散性,这种离散性进一步导致了统计量AIC值存在较大变异性。提出的基于Bootstrap的最优边缘分布函数和最优Copula函数识别方法不仅可以有效地考虑统计量AIC值的变异性,而且能够综合地反映不同备选边缘分布函数和Copula函数为最优边缘分布和最优Copula函数的概率,为小样本容量岩土体参数最优边缘分布函数和最优Copula函数的识别提供了一条有效的途径。     

Impact of copula selection on geotechnical reliability under incomplete probability information

This paper aims to investigate the impact of copula selection on geotechnical reliability under incomplete probability information. The copula theory is introduced briefly. Thereafter, four copulas, namely Gaussian, Plackett, Frank, and No. 16 copulas, are selected to model the dependence structure between cohesion and friction angle. A copula-based approach is used to construct the joint probability density function of cohesion and friction angle with given marginal distributions and correlation coefficient. The reliability of an infinite slope and a retaining wall is presented to demonstrate the impact of copula selection on reliability. The results indicate that the probabilities of failure of geotechnical structures with given marginal distributions and correlation coefficient of shear strength parameters cannot be determined uniquely. The resulting probabilities of failure associated with different copulas can differ considerably. Such a difference increases with decreasing probability of failure. Significant difference in probabilities of failure could be observed for relatively small coefficients of variation of the shear strength parameters or a strong negative correlation between cohesion and friction angle. The Gaussian copula, often adopted out of expedience without proper validation, may not capture the dependence structure between cohesion and friction angle properly. Furthermore, the Gaussian copula may greatly underestimate the probability of failure for geotechnical structures.     

Assessing the copula selection for bivariate frequency analysis based on the tail dependence test

The flood characteristics, namely, peak, duration and volume provide important information for the design of hydraulic structures, water resources planning, reservoir management and flood hazard mapping. Flood is a complex phenomenon defined by strongly correlated characteristics such as peak, duration and volume. Therefore, it is necessary to study the simultaneous, multivariate, probabilistic behaviour of flood characteristics. Traditional multivariate parametric distributions have widely been applied for hydrological applications. However, this approach has some drawbacks such as the dependence structure between the variables, which depends on the marginal distributions or the flood variables that have the same type of marginal distributions. Copulas are applied to overcome the restriction of traditional bivariate frequency analysis by choosing the marginals from different families of the probability distribution for flood variables. The most important step in the modelling process using copula is the selection of copula function which is the best fit for the data sample. The choice of copula may significantly impact the bivariate quantiles. Indeed, this study indicates that there is a huge difference in the joint return period estimation using the families of extreme value copulas and no upper tail copulas (Frank, Clayton and Gaussian) if there exists asymptotic dependence in the flood characteristics. This study suggests that the copula function should be selected based on the dependence structure of the variables. From the results, it is observed that the result from tail dependence test is very useful in selecting the appropriate copula for modelling the joint dependence structure of flood variables. The extreme value copulas with upper tail dependence have proved that they are appropriate models for the dependence structure of the flood characteristics and Frank, Clayton and Gaussian copulas are the appropriate copula models in case of variables which are diagnosed as asymptotic independence.     

水利水电工程岩基抗剪强度参数二维分布模型构造的Copula方法

基于国内103个水利水电工程1 174组岩基抗剪强度试验数据,采用Copula函数研究岩基抗剪强度参数联合分布模型,探讨水利水电工程中岩基抗剪强度参数联合分布模型构建方法。利用最小二乘法求出岩基抗剪强度参数试验数据的相关统计参数,基于AIC准则识别出岩基抗剪强度参数边缘分布。选择4种Copula函数构造岩基抗剪强度参数二维分布模型,探讨了基于Copula函数的岩基抗剪强度参数二维分布模型的优越性。结果表明：水利水电工程岩基抗剪强度参数存在明显的统计负相关性。Copula方法能够构造具有任意边缘分布和任意相关结构的岩基抗剪强度参数联合分布模型,它为构造抗剪强度参数联合分布模型提供了一种简便的工具。已知岩基抗剪强度参数的边缘分布函数和相关系数不能唯一确定岩基抗剪强度参数的联合概率分布模型,在抗剪强度参数边缘分布函数和相关系数完全相同的前提下,不同Copula函数建立的抗剪强度参数联合概率分布模型差异显著。与常用的抗剪强度参数二维正态分布模型相比,基于Copula函数的抗剪强度参数二维分布模型具有较强的灵活性,它能更好地拟合原始观测数据。水利水电工程中惯用小值平均法确定标准值,当摩擦系数取较小值时,不同Copula函数构造的黏聚力的条件累积分布函数差异显著,这将对抗剪强度参数标准值的选取以及相应的设计方案具有明显的影响。     

Generation of multivariate cross-correlated geotechnical random fields

A geotechnical problem that involves several spatially correlated parameters can be best described using multivariate cross-correlated random fields. The joint distribution of these random variables cannot be uniquely defined using their marginal distributions and correlation coefficients alone. This paper presents a generic methodology for generating multivariate cross-correlated random fields. The joint distribution is rigorously established using a copula function that describes the dependence structure among the individual variables. The cross-correlated random fields are generated through Cholesky decomposition and conditional sampling based on the joint distribution. The random fields are verified regarding the anisotropic scales of fluctuation and copula parameters.     

Spatial hydrological drought characteristics in Karkheh River basin,southwest Iran using copulas

Investigation on drought characteristics such as severity, duration, and frequency is crucial for water resources planning and management in a river basin. While the methodology for multivariate drought frequency analysis is well established by applying the copulas, the estimation on the associated parameters by various parameter estimation methods and the effects on the obtained results have not yet been investigated. This research aims at conducting a comparative analysis between the maximum likelihood parametric and non-parametric method of the Kendall \(\tau \) estimation method for copulas parameter estimation. The methods were employed to study joint severity–duration probability and recurrence intervals in Karkheh River basin (southwest Iran) which is facing severe water-deficit problems. Daily streamflow data at three hydrological gauging stations (Tang Sazbon, Huleilan and Polchehr) near the Karkheh dam were used to draw flow duration curves (FDC) of these three stations. The \(Q_{75}\) index extracted from the FDC were set as threshold level to abstract drought characteristics such as drought duration and severity on the basis of the run theory. Drought duration and severity were separately modeled using the univariate probabilistic distributions and gamma–GEV, LN2–exponential, and LN2–gamma were selected as the best paired drought severity–duration inputs for copulas according to the Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), Kolmogorov–Smirnov and chi-square tests. Archimedean Clayton, Frank, and extreme value Gumbel copulas were employed to construct joint cumulative distribution functions (JCDF) of droughts for each station. Frank copula at Tang Sazbon and Gumbel at Huleilan and Polchehr stations were identified as the best copulas based on the performance evaluation criteria including AIC, BIC, log-likelihood and root mean square error (RMSE) values. Based on the RMSE values, nonparametric Kendall-\(\tau \) is preferred to the parametric maximum likelihood estimation method. The results showed greater drought return periods by the parametric ML method in comparison to the nonparametric Kendall \(\tau \) estimation method. The results also showed that stations located in tributaries (Huleilan and Polchehr) have close return periods, while the station along the main river (Tang Sazbon) has the smaller return periods for the drought events with identical drought duration and severity.     

Drought characterization using a new copula-based trivariate approach

Meteorological drought is a natural climatic phenomenon that occurs over various time scales and may cause significant economic, environmental and social damages. Three drought characteristics, namely duration, average severity and peak intensity, are important variables in water resources planning and decision making. This study presents a new method for construction of three-dimensional copulas to describe the joint distribution function of meteorological drought characteristics. Using the inference function for margins, the parameters for six types of copulas were tested to select the best-fitted copulas. According to the values of the log-likelihood function, Galambos, Frank and Clayton were the selected copula models to describe the dependence structure for pairs of duration–severity, severity–peak and duration–peak, respectively. Trivariate cumulative probability, conditional probability and drought return period were also investigated based on the derived copula-based joint distributions. The proposed model was evaluated over the observed data of a Qazvin synoptic station, and the results were compared with the empirical probabilities. For measuring the model accuracy, R ², root mean square error (RMSE) and the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) criteria were used. Results indicated that R ², RMSE and NSE were equal to 0.91, 0.098 and 0.668, respectively, which demonstrate sufficient accuracy of the proposed model. Drought probabilistic characteristics can provide useful information for water resource planning and management.     

Quantile regression C-vine copula model for spatial extremes

A spatial quantile regression model is proposed to estimate the quantile curve for a given probability of non-exceedance, as function of locations and covariates. Canonical vines copulas are considered to represent the spatial dependence structure. The marginal at each location is an asymmetric Laplace distribution where the parameters are functions of the covariates. The full conditional quantile distribution is given using the Joe–Clayton copula. Simulations show the flexibility of the proposed model to estimate the quantiles with special dependence structures. A case study illustrates its applicability to estimate quantiles for spatial temperature anomalies.     

两变量水文频率分布模型研究述评

水文变量多特征属性的频率分析,以及各种水文事件的遭遇及联合概率分布问题需要采用多变量概率分布模型解决。总结了当前应用最广泛的几种两变量概率分布模型,对各种模型的适用性和局限性做了详细分析,并介绍了一种新的两变量概率模型——Copula函数。现有模型大都基于变量之间的线性相关关系而建立,对于非线性、非对称的随机变量难以很好地描述;大部分模型假定各变量服从相同的边际分布或对变量间的相关性有严格的限定,从而限制了其应用。Copula函数所构造的两变量概率分布模型克服了现有模型的不足,它具有任意的边际分布,可以描述变量间非线性、非对称的相关关系。作为一种用于构造灵活的多变量联合分布的工具,Copula函数在水科学领域具有广阔的应用前景。     

基于K-L信息距离的多源信息融合法

为解决小子样条件下岩土参数概率分布推断的难题,并克服基于专家信息的融合法不可避免地带有主观随意性的弊端,引入信息论中K-L信息距离的概念,基于先验信息可信度,提出一种新的多源信息融合方法。利用K-L信息距离作为参数分布之间距离的度量,定义先验分布差异率,确定融合权重,进而根据Bayes原理得到后验分布,优化岩土参数分布概型。工程实例分析结果表明,该法计算简单,且克服了推断过程中的主观随意性。计算结果显示该法所得融合分布的方差比已有成果所得方差偏小,说明该法可实现统计意义上的参数概型优化,为岩土参数设计值的合理选取提供了参考。     

Probabilistic and fuzzy reliability analysis of a sample slope near Aliano

Slope stability assessment is a geotechnical problem characterized by many sources of uncertainty. Some of them, e.g., are connected to the variability of soil parameters involved in the analysis. Beginning from a correct geotechnical characterization of the examined site, only a complete approach to uncertainty matter can lead to a significant result. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how to model data uncertainty in order to perform slope stability analysis with a good degree of significance.

Once the input data have been determined, a probabilistic stability assessment (first-order second moment and Monte Carlo analysis) is performed to obtain the variation of failure probability vs. correlation coefficient between soil parameters. A first result is the demonstration of the stability of first-order second moment (FOSM) (both with normal and lognormal distribution assumption) and Monte Carlo (MC) solutions, coming from a correct uncertainty modelling. The paper presents a simple algorithm (Fuzzy First Order Second Moment, FFOSM), which uses a fuzzy-based analysis applied to data processing.     

Bivariate simulation using copula and its application to probabilistic pile settlement analysis

This paper aims to propose a procedure for modeling the joint probability distribution of bivariate uncertain data with a nonlinear dependence structure. First, the concept of dependence measures is briefly introduced. Then, both the Akaike Information Criterion and the Bayesian Information Criterion are adopted for identifying the best‐fit copula. Thereafter, simulation of copulas and bivariate distributions based on Monte Carlo simulation are presented. Practical application for serviceability limit state reliability analysis of piles is conducted. Finally, four load–test datasets of load–displacement curves of piles are used to illustrate the proposed procedure. The results indicate that the proposed copula‐based procedure can model and simulate the bivariate probability distribution of two curve‐fitting parameters underlying the load–displacement models of piles in a more general way. The simulated load–displacement curves using the proposed procedure are found to be in good agreement with the measured results. In most cases, the Gaussian copula, often adopted out of expedience without proper validation, is not the best‐fit copula for modeling the dependence structure underlying two curve‐fitting parameters. The conditional probability density functions obtained from the Gaussian copula differ considerably from those obtained from the best‐fit copula. The probabilities of failure associated with the Gaussian copula are significantly smaller than the reference solutions, which are very unconservative for pile safety assessment. If the strong negative correlation between the two curve‐fitting parameters is ignored, the scatter in the measured load–displacement curves cannot be simulated properly, and the probabilities of failure will be highly overestimated. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of Archimedean copulas to the impact assessment of hydro-climatic variables in semi-arid aquifers of western India

The effects of rainfall and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on groundwater in a semi-arid basin of India were analyzed using Archimedean copulas considering 17 years of data for monsoon rainfall, post-monsoon groundwater level (PMGL) and ENSO Index. The evaluated dependence among these hydro-climatic variables revealed that PMGL-Rainfall and PMGL-ENSO Index pairs have significant dependence. Hence, these pairs were used for modeling dependence by employing four types of Archimedean copulas: Ali-Mikhail-Haq, Clayton, Gumbel-Hougaard, and Frank. For the copula modeling, the results of probability distributions fitting to these hydro-climatic variables indicated that the PMGL and rainfall time series are best represented by Weibull and lognormal distributions, respectively, while the non-parametric kernel-based normal distribution is the most suitable for the ENSO Index. Further, the PMGL-Rainfall pair is best modeled by the Clayton copula, and the PMGL-ENSO Index pair is best modeled by the Frank copula. The Clayton copula-based conditional probability of PMGL being less than or equal to its average value at a given mean rainfall is above 70% for 33% of the study area. In contrast, the spatial variation of the Frank copula-based probability of PMGL being less than or equal to its average value is 35–40% in 23% of the study area during El Niño phase, while it is below 15% in 35% of the area during the La Niña phase. This copula-based methodology can be applied under data-scarce conditions for exploring the impacts of rainfall and ENSO on groundwater at basin scales.     

Probabilistic slope stability analysis by a copula-based sampling method

In probabilistic slope stability analysis, the influence of cross correlation of the soil strength parameters, cohesion and internal friction angle, on the reliability index has not been investigated fully. In this paper, an expedient technique is presented for probabilistic slope stability analysis that involves sampling a series of combinations of soil strength parameters through a copula as input to an existing conventional deterministic slope stability program. The approach organises the individual marginal probability density distributions of componential shear strength as a bivariate joint distribution by the copula function to characterise the dependence between shear strengths. The technique can be used to generate an arbitrarily large sample of soil strength parameters. Examples are provided to illustrate the use of the copula-based sampling method to estimate the reliability index of given slopes, and the computed results are compared with the first-order reliability method, considering the correlated random variables. A sensitivity study was conducted to assess the influence of correlational measurements on the reliability index. The approach is simple and can be applied in practice with little effort beyond what is necessary in a conventional analysis.     

岩土工程最小勘探数据量确定方法

准确地确定岩土设计参数统计特征值诸如均值、标准差是岩土工程可靠度分析与设计的重要前提。在满足岩土设计参数统计特征值计算精度条件下,文中提出了岩土工程最小勘探数据量的确定方法,定义了相对误差和相对变异性指标衡量岩土设计参数统计特征值计算准确性。系统地分析了静力触探试验数据量对砂土有效内摩擦角统计特征值计算精度的影响,并且根据相对误差和相对变异性指标确定了静力触探最小勘探数据量。研究结果表明,由静力触探试验间接估计砂土有效内摩擦角时均值相对误差较低,砂土有效内摩擦角相对变异性指标随静力触探试验数据量的增加而降低,即由认知不足引起的不确定性占总变异性的比值随静力触探试验数据量的增加而减小;当砂土有效内摩擦角容许相对变异性指标小于0.2时砂土有效内摩擦角在最大变异（COV=20%）与最小变异性（COV=5%）范围内,满足预定要求所需的最小静力触探试验数据量为10～100;若容许相对变异性指标小于0.3,所需的最小静力触探试验数据量为5～43。此外,间接估计岩土设计参数时经验回归模型不确定性对最小勘探数据量有显著影响。静力触探试验最小勘探数据量随经验回归模型不确定性的增大而增加,在确定岩土设计参数统计特征值时应尽量广泛收集勘探数据并选择精度较高的计算模型。     

考虑粒组分类影响的最小孔隙比分布及模型验证

最小孔隙比是确定岩土体的密实程度与孔隙特征的有效物理指标,如何快速有效地确定岩土体的最小孔隙比,可为岩土体的固结与稳定提供可靠参数。多数估算细粗混合材料最小孔隙比的模型参数与细粗粒径比一一对应,导致估算困难。在分析尾矿粒度组成、沉积规律和固结稳定的基础上,以8种不同粗细粒径,7～9种不同细粒含量尾矿为试验对象,拟合得到不同粒组尾矿最小孔隙比分布模型参数的函数关系;基于混合尾矿颗粒的粒组特征,给出了确定参数幂函数关系的指数值。分别采用模型参数要求粒组范围内的其他6组岩土材料和非粒组范围内的3组岩土材料进行验证。结果表明,考虑粒组分类影响下的模型,参数简单,对不同材料的最小孔隙比估算准确率较高,给出的最小孔隙比的分布规律合理,可为岩土工程领域最小孔隙比估算提供可靠的计算方法。     

Pair-copula函数在多变量干旱特性联合概率中的应用

研究pair-copula在干旱特性联合概率中的应用。以渭河流域咸阳站降雨资料为例,采用游程理论,选取干旱历时、干旱烈度和烈度峰值为干旱特性变量,应用Pearson线性相关系数、Spearman相关系数和Kendall秩相关系数进行相依性度量。采用4种常用的copula函数构造了12种pair-copulas,以RMSE、AIC、BIC为准则选择最优的pair-copula。运用Rosenblatt变换的Bootstrap法进行copula拟合度检验,推导3变量的联合概率分布。与3维对称、非对称阿基米德copulas和椭圆copula比较,表明pair-copula可以描述多变量水文概率分布。     

Load-displacement uncertainty of vertically loaded shallow footings on sands and effects on probabilistic settlement estimation

This article focuses on the statistical characterisation and stochastic modelling of the load-displacement behaviour of shallow footings on cohesionless soils and on the probabilistic estimation of settlement for serviceability limit state design (LSD). The study relies on a field database of 30 full-scale footings subjected to vertical loading with cone penetration testing data available for each site. The performance of three load-displacement models in replicating field data is assessed comparatively through statistical analysis. Load-displacement uncertainty is subsequently modelled probabilistically to perform Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS)-based estimation of footing settlement using the best-performing power law model. The dependence among load-displacement model parameters is investigated and replicated using copula theory. Samples are generated to account for parametric uncertainties in model inputs. The simulation output samples of settlement are examined statistically in order to assess the relevance of parametric and load-displacement uncertainties in settlement estimation, as well as the importance of accounting for correlation between power law model parameters. A simple analytical model for the estimation of settlement at any target reliability level is obtained on the basis of the outputs of MCS. The model can be practically implemented in geotechnical LSD at serviceability limit states.     

3维干旱变量联合概率分布研究

研究多变量干旱特性联合分布的推求方法。选择干旱历时、干旱烈度和烈度峰值为水文干旱特性变量。单变量的边际分布参数分别采用矩法、概率权重法、极大似然法和遗传算法进行计算和优化。应用检验、Kolmogorov-Smirnov等6种检验法进行单变量分布的拟合度检验。采用Pearson’s古典相关系数,Spearman秩相关系数,Kendall’s,Chi-Plots和K-Plots进行变量间的相依性度量。选择4种常用的3维Archimedean Copula函数进行干旱特性变量联合分布拟合。根据RMSE、AIC和BIC准则选择最优copula。在此基础上,采用基于Rosenblatt变换的Bootstrap法进行3维copula的拟合度检验。模型应用于渭河流域北洛河状头站径流序列,结果表明:Gumbel-Hougaard copula拟合效果最好,可以描述洛河状头站3维干旱变量的联合分布。     

Statistical Distributions of Hydraulic Conductivity from Reliability Analysis Data

This paper describes a first-order reliability-based analysis to identify the best-fit probability distributions for hydraulic conductivity. The analysis involved the use of existing hydraulic conductivity model developed from laboratory data and applied to lateritic soils, considering variations in soil parameters. Plots of reliability indices versus coefficients of variation were first made for hydraulic conductivity as well as for initial degree of saturation, plasticity index and clay content, considering three compactive efforts and log-normally distributed hydraulic conductivity. The traditional two-parameter log-normal distribution was compared to four alternative distributions: normal, gamma, Gumbel (extreme value type I-EVT-I) and Weibull (extreme value type III-EVT-III). The analysis showed that the Weibull and normal are the best-fit probability distributions for the hydraulic conductivity based reliability data. Hydraulic conductivities predicted from reliability analysis were used to demonstrate the possibility of applying the results obtained in this research by practising engineers. Experimentally-determined hydraulic conductivities were shown to be in good agreement with predicted values.