Effect of Heterogeneous Soil Strength on the Seismic Residual Displacement of Embankments

The effect of heterogeneous soil strength on a performance design procedure, based on permanent displacement according to safety factors, is examined. Soils are heterogeneous in nature. However, at present, the seismic design of embankments has been implemented assuming homogeneous soil strength. In this study, a seismic reliability analysis using a Monte Carlo Simulation and heterogeneous soil strength was applied to the Newmark Method. Input data of the reliability analysis in this study were based on in-situ soil test results of an actual airport embankment. The numerical results in this study suggest that the estimated displacement will increase if the heterogeneity of material is considered. His study also shows that the setup of the numerical analysis model to include the heterogeneity of the soil strength is important.