Advances in Computational Limit State Analysis and Design

While simple closed form limit analysis solutions continue to be widely used in geotechnical engineering practice, many practitioners are unaware that recently developed computational limit analysis methods now allow direct analysis of the collapse (or `ultimate limit') state for problems of arbitrary geometry, obviating the need to resort to considerably more complex alternative techniques, such as nonlinear finite elements. This paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art in the field of computational limit analysis, focusing in particular on the groundbreaking `Discontinuity Layout Optimization' (DLO) numerical procedure. In this paper the DLO procedure is applied to a wide range of geotechnical problems, including those involving soil reinforcement and seismic loading, and it is shown that this technique may easily be integrated with LFRD limit state design methods.