TECHNICAL PAPERS
May 1, 2006

Reliability and Human Factors in Geotechnical Engineering

Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 5

Abstract

Reliability methods have been applied successfully to two primary categories of uncertainties encountered in geotechnical engineering: Natural variabilities and modeling uncertainties. There are several additional categories of uncertainties that have not been addressed, primarily those due to human, organizational, and knowledge related factors. This paper proposes reliability based engineering approaches and strategies that can be used to help address these additional sources of uncertainties. The approaches and strategies have proven to provide useful insights regarding the potential effectiveness of proposed programs to improve quality and reliability of geotechnical engineered systems; facilitating development of rational decisions and judgements concerning trade-offs, costs, and benefits.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

References

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (1995). “Standard practice for human engineering design for marine systems, equipment and facilities.” F1166-95a, West Conshohocken, Pa.
ASCE Task Committee on Guidelines for Failure Investigation. (1989). Guidelines for failure investigation, ASCE, New York.
Baecher, G. B. (1979). “Analyzing exploration strategies.” Site characterization and exploration, C. H. Dowding, ed., ASCE, Reston, Va., 23–31.
Bazerman, M. H., and Watkins, M. D. (2004). Predictable surprises, the disasters you should have seen coming, and how to prevent them, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Bea, R. G. (1971). “How sea floor slides affect offshore platforms and pipelines.” Oil & Gas J., 12(6), 22–29
Bea, R. G. (1990). Reliability based design criteria for coastal and ocean structures, Institution of Engineers, Barton ACT, Australia.
Bea, R. G. (1997). “Human and organization errors in reliability of offshore structures.” J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng., 119(2), 46–52.
Bea, R. G. (1998). “Reliability characteristics of a platform in the Mississippi River Delta.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 124(8), 729–738.
Bea, R. G. (2000a). Achieving step change in risk assessment and management (RAM), Centre for Oil and Gas Engineering, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia;
“Human and organizational factors in design & reliability of offshore structures.” Doctor of philosophy thesis, Centre for Oil and Gas Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia.
Bea, R. G. (2000b). “Performance shaping factors in reliability analysis of design of offshore structures.” J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng., 122(8), 163–172.
Bea, R. G. (2001). “Risk assessment and management of offshore structures.” Progress in structural engineering and materials, Vol. 3, Wiley, New York 180–187.
Bea, R. G. (2002a). “Human and organizational factors in reliability assessment and management of offshore structures.” Risk Anal., 22(1), 29–45.
Bea, R. G. (2002b). “Human and organizational factors in design and operation of deepwater structures.” OTC 14293, Proc., Offshore Technology Conf., Society of Petroleum Engrs., Richardson, Tex., 1–19.
Bea, R. G., and Audibert, J. M. E. (1980). “Offshore platforms and pipelines in Mississippi River Delta.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 106(8), 853–869.
Bea, R. G., Bernard, H. A., Arnold, P., and Doyle, E. H. (1975). “Soil movements and forces developed by wave-induced slides in the Mississippi Delta.” JPT, 2(3), 599–514.
Bea, R. G., Brandtzaeg, A., and Craig, M. J. K. (1998). “Life-cycle reliability characteristics of minimum structures.” J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng., 120(3), 120–136.
Bea, R. G., and Roberts, K. (1997). “Managing rapidly developing crises: Real-time prevention of marine system accidents.” Proc., 16th Int. Conf. on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Safety and Reliability Symp., ASME, New York, 122–130.
Bea, R. G., Wright, S. G., Sircar, P., and Niedoroda, A. W. (1983). “Wave-induced slides in South Pass Block 70, Mississippi Delta.” J. Geotech. Eng., 109(4), 619–644.
Center for Chemical Process Safety. (1994). Guidelines for preventing human error in process safety, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, New York.
Christian, J. T. (2004). “Geotechnical engineering reliability: How well do we know what we are doing?” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 130(10), 985–1003.
Christian, J. T. (2005). “Geotechnical engineering reliability: The observational method.” Presentation at 2005 Distinguished Lecture Program, Univ. of California Berkeley Geoengineering Society, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Calif.
Christian, J. T., Ladd, C. C., and Baecher, G. B. (1994). “Reliability applied to slope stability analysis.” J. Geotech. Eng., 120(12), 2180–2207.
Duncan, J. M. (2000). “Factors of safety and reliability in geotechnical engineering.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126(4), 307–316.
Gertman, D. I., and Blackman, H. S. (1994). Human reliability and safety analysis data handbook, Wiley, Chicester, U.K.
Haber, S. B., O’Brien, J. N., Metlay, D. S., and Crouch, D. A. (1991). “Influence of organizational factors on performance reliability.” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Rep. No. NUREG/CR-5538, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Hale, A., Wilpert, B., and Freitag, M. (1997). After the event, from accident to organizational learning, Pergamon, Elsevier Sciences, Oxford, U.K.
Harr, M. E. (1987). Reliability-based design in civil engineering, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Jones, R. B. (1995). Risk-based management—A reliability centered approach, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston.
Kirwan, B. (1994). A guide to practical human reliability assessment, Taylor & Francis, London.
Knoll, F. (1986). “Checkiung techniques.” Modeling human error in structural design and construction, A. S. Nowak, ed., ASCE, Reston, Va., 26–42.
Kulhawy, F. (1996). “From Casagrande’s calculated risk to reliability-based design in foundation engineering.” Civ. Eng. Pract., 11(2), 43–56.
Kulhawy, F. H., and Phoon, K. K. (1996). “Engineering judgment in the evolution from deterministic to reliability-based foundation design.” Uncertainty in the geologic environment, C. D. Shackelford, P. P. Nelson, and M. J. S. Roth, eds., ASCE, New York, Vol. 1, 29–48.
Lacasse, S. (2004). “Risk assessment for geotechnical solutions offshore.” Proc., 23rd Int. Conf. Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, OMAE2004-51144, ASME, New York.
Lacasse, S., and Nadim, F. (1994). “Reliability issues and future challenges in geotechnical engineering for offshore structures.” Proc., 7th Int. Conf. on Behaviour of Offshore Structures, MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 9–38.
Matousek, M. (1990). “Quality assurance.” Engineering safety, D. Blockley, ed., McGraw-Hill, London, 45–60.
Meyerhof, G. G. (1976). “Concepts of safety in foundation engineering ashore and offshore.” Proc., 1st Int. Conf. on Behavior of Offshore Structures, Trondheim, Norway, Vol. 1.
Morgenstern, N. (1995). “Managing risk in geotechnical engineering.” Proc., 10th Pan American Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundations Engineering, Mexican Society of Soil Mechanics, Mexico, Vol. 4, 102–126.
National Academy of Engineering. (1995). Probabilistic methods in geotechnical engineering, National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.
National Academy of Engineering. (2004). Accident precursor analysis and management, National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.
Peck, R. B. (1969). “Advantages and limitations of the observational method in applied soil mechanics.” Geotechnique, 19(2), 171–187.
Rasmussen, J. (1996). “Risk management, adaptation, and design for safety.” Future risks and risk management, N. E. Sahlin and B. Brehemer, eds., Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 50–65.
Ratay, R. T. (2000). Forensic structural engineering handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Reason, J. (1990). Human error, Cambridge University Press, London.
Reason, J. (1997). Managing the risks of organizational accidents, Ashgate, Aldershot, U.K.
Roberts, K. H. (1989). “New challenges in organizational research: High reliability organizations.” Industrial crisis quarterly, Elsevier Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 20–26.
Roberts, K. H. (1993). New challenges to understanding organizations, McMillan, New York.
Roberts, K. H., and Bea, R. G. (2001a). “Must accidents happen? Lessons from high-reliability organizations.” Acad. Manage. Exec., 15(3), 1–9.
Roberts, K. H., and Bea, R. G. (2001b). “When systems fail.” Organizational Dynamics, 29(3), 179–191.
Rochlin, G. (1997). Trapped in the net, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Ronold, K. O., and Bjerager, P. (1992). “Model uncertainty representation in geotechnical reliability analyses.” J. Geotech. Eng., 118(3), 363–376.
Santamarina, J. C., and Turkstra, C. J. (1990). “Human factors and communication problems in foundation engineering.” Foundation engineering: Current principles and practices, F. H. Kulhawy, ed., ASCE, New York, Vol. 2, 857–868.
Sasou, K., and Reason, J. (1999). “Team errors: Definition and taxonomy.” Reliability engineering and system safety, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Vol. 65, 1–9.
Sowers, G. F. (1993). “Human factors in civil and geotechnical engineering failures.” J. Geotech. Eng., 119(2), 238–256.
Spouge, J. (1999). “A guide to quantitative risk assessment for offshore installations.” Publication No. 99/100, Center for Marine and Petroleum Technology, London.
Stoelsnes, R. R., and Bea, R. G. (2005). “Uncertainty management of general conditions in a project.” Risk Management: An International J., 7(2), 19–35.
Tang, W. H., Stark, T. D., and Angulo, M. (1999). “Reliability in back analysis of slope failures.” J. Soil Mech. and Found, 2(1), 10–20.
Terzaghi, K., Peck, R. B., and Mesri, G. (1996). Soil mechanics in engineering practice, 3rd Ed., Wiley, New York.
Vanmarcke, E. H. (1977). “Reliability of earth slopes.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 103(11), 1227–1246.
Vick, S. G. (2002). Degrees of belief, subjective probability and engineering judgment, ASCE, Reston, Va.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Weick, K. E., and Sutcliffe, K. M. (2001). Managing the unexpected, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Wenk, E., Jr. (1986). Trade-offs, imperatives of choice in a high-tech world, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md.
Whitman, R. V. (1984). “Evaluating calculated risk in geotechnical engineering.” J. Geotech. Eng., 110(2), 143–188.
Whitman, R. V. (2000). “Organizing and evaluating uncertainty in geotechnical engineering.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126(7), 583–593.
Woods, D. D. (1990). “Risk and human performance: Measuring the potential for disaster.” Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf., 29, 22–36.
Wu, T. H. (1974). “Uncertainty, safety, and decision in soil engineering.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 100(3), 329–348.
Wu, T. H., Kjekstad, O., Lee, I. M., and Lacasse, S. (1989). “Reliability analysis of foundation stability for gravity platforms in the North Sea.” Can. Geotech. J., 26(1), 359–368.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132Issue 5May 2006
Pages: 631 - 643

History

Received: Nov 23, 2004
Accepted: Aug 22, 2005
Published online: May 1, 2006
Published in print: May 2006

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

Robert Bea, F.ASCE
P.E.
Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 212 McLaughlin Hall, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1712.

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

Cited by

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share