Probabilistic Analysis of Shallow Passive Trapdoor in Cohesive Soil
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 145, Issue 6
Abstract
This technical note used the random finite-element method (RFEM) to investigate the influence of soil strength variability on the limit load of a shallow passive trapdoor embedded in cohesive soil. The mean undrained shear strength was held constant while the coefficient of variation and spatial correlation length were varied systematically. For trapdoors against soils with low values of the coefficient of variation, the mean limit load agreed well with the results from a uniform deterministic analysis. For higher values of the coefficient of variation, the mean limit load decreased. By interpreting the Monte Carlo simulations in a probabilistic context, the probability of failure was assessed as a function of the factor of safety based on the mean and the spatial variability of the soil. It was found, for example, that a factor of safety of 2.5 is required to avoid the probability of failure exceeding 5% for soils with strength variability within typical ranges.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51808484, 41630638, and 51479050), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20180934), the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (Grant No. 18KJB170022), the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Grant No. 2015CB057901), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0800205), the Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai University (Grant No. 201706), the 111 Projects (Grant No. B13024), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2018M642336), and the Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (Grant No. 2018K137C).
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 145 • Issue 6 • June 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 13, 2017
Accepted: Nov 21, 2018
Published online: Mar 27, 2019
Published in print: Jun 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Aug 27, 2019
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