Safety Level and Reliability Index for Bank Slope Stability

Based on statistics and analysis of the safety factor of unstable bank slopes,the relation be-tween safety level and reliability index of stability is studied and discussed,and then the elementary cali-brating calculation is carried out to the levels of safety and reliability for bank slope stability in the rangeof safety factors stipulated in existing China Technical Specifications for Port Engineering—FoundationPart(1987)and to those reached by some stable bank slopes already built.The results show that the relia-bility index β in the effective stress method is able to reach a high value of 2.4～4.1(mid-value 3.25),while the value of β in other three kinds of total stress method can just reach a lower value of 0.5～2.8(mid-value 1.65),which are in conformity with the engineering experience in China,and thus acceptable.Some suggestions are also given in this paper to the adoption of the value of β_0—objective reliability indexfor bank slope stability.

Safety Level and Reliability Index for Bank Slope Stability