Non-stationary realisation of CPT data: considering lithological and inherent heterogeneity

ABSTRACT

The main sources of uncertainty in the soil specification and mechanical behaviour consist of the lithological and heterogeneous randomness of soil deposits. It is quite obvious that the cone penetration testing (CPT) data and the variation of soil characteristics are not stationary. Hence, this paper investigates a new approach to realise a CPT data, taking both sources of uncertainty into consideration. In this regard, the first part of this study illustrates a simple approach to stratify the CPT data, using the Eslami–Fellenius chart of classification. In the second part, the non-stationary algorithm of generating random field is introduced to generate a multi-layer random field. This algorithm takes account of each layer’s statistical properties (i.e. standard deviation, mean, and the trend value), separately. To validate the proposed approach, 41 case histories from different worldwide sites, have been regenerated by considering both the stationary and non-stationary algorithms. The correlation coefficient between real and realised CPT data has been employed to show that the proposed non-stationary algorithm can simulate the CPT data more accurately in comparison with the stationary algorithm.