{"title":"Reliability-Based Structural Design of Retaining Walls Supporting Spatially Variable Soils","authors":"Batoul Tarhini, Ahmad Kahiel, S. Najjar, S. Sadek","doi":"10.1061/ajrua6.0001240","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"design of retaining walls is affected by spatial variability in the properties of the retained backfill and the foundation soil. In practice, the conventional approach for designing retaining walls is deterministic in nature and is based on ensuring acceptable design factors of safety for different limit states of wall failure. The only exception is the design method that is available in Eurocode 7, where partial load and resistance factors have been recommended to ensure a target level of safety in the design. Although these codes are considered to include the uncertainties in the design load and capacity, the recommended partial safety factors may not realistically incorporate the impact of spatial variability in the properties of the supported backfill and foundation soil on the design, since the calibration studies that were conducted to determine the safety factors were not based on realistic random field modeling of the soils involved. In addition, existing reliability-based design approaches for retaining walls focus on the failure in the soil and do not include design aspects of the structural behavior of the wall. The main objective of this thesis is to quantify the level of risk associated with the design of a cantilever retaining wall using the conventional deterministic design approaches and approaches that are based on partial factors of safety (ex. Eurocode 7). The objective will be attained by utilizing random fields that represent the variability in the backfill and foundation soils in the finite difference software FLAC 2D ® . The effect of the properties of the random field on the design of the retaining wall will then be investigated to provide recommendations that would aid the design of cantilever walls supporting cohesionless backfill.","PeriodicalId":48571,"journal":{"name":"Asce-Asme Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems Part A-Civil Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asce-Asme Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems Part A-Civil Engineering","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1061/ajrua6.0001240","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, CIVIL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
design of retaining walls is affected by spatial variability in the properties of the retained backfill and the foundation soil. In practice, the conventional approach for designing retaining walls is deterministic in nature and is based on ensuring acceptable design factors of safety for different limit states of wall failure. The only exception is the design method that is available in Eurocode 7, where partial load and resistance factors have been recommended to ensure a target level of safety in the design. Although these codes are considered to include the uncertainties in the design load and capacity, the recommended partial safety factors may not realistically incorporate the impact of spatial variability in the properties of the supported backfill and foundation soil on the design, since the calibration studies that were conducted to determine the safety factors were not based on realistic random field modeling of the soils involved. In addition, existing reliability-based design approaches for retaining walls focus on the failure in the soil and do not include design aspects of the structural behavior of the wall. The main objective of this thesis is to quantify the level of risk associated with the design of a cantilever retaining wall using the conventional deterministic design approaches and approaches that are based on partial factors of safety (ex. Eurocode 7). The objective will be attained by utilizing random fields that represent the variability in the backfill and foundation soils in the finite difference software FLAC 2D ® . The effect of the properties of the random field on the design of the retaining wall will then be investigated to provide recommendations that would aid the design of cantilever walls supporting cohesionless backfill.
期刊介绍:
The journal will meet the needs of the researchers and engineers to address risk, disaster and failure-related challenges due to many sources and types of uncertainty in planning, design, analysis, construction, manufacturing, operation, utilization, and life-cycle management of existing and new engineering systems. Challenges abound due to increasing complexity of engineering systems, new materials and concepts, and emerging hazards (both natural and human caused). The journal will serve as a medium for dissemination of research findings, best practices and concerns, and for the discussion and debate on risk and uncertainty related issues. The journal will report on the full range of risk and uncertainty analysis state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice relating to civil and mechanical engineering including but not limited to:
• Risk quantification based on hazard identification,
• Scenario development and rate quantification,
• Consequence assessment,
• Valuations, perception, and communication,
• Risk-informed decision making,
• Uncertainty analysis and modeling,
• Other related areas.
Part A of the journal, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers, will focus on the civil engineering aspects of these topics. Part B will be published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers focusing on mechanical engineering.