Quasi-Monte Carlo Simulation with Low-Discrepancy Sequence for Reinforced Soil Slopes
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper describes a precise numerical technique to compute the limit state exceedance probability of geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) slopes with normally distributed backfill and foundation soils by using the low-discrepancy sequence Monte Carlo (LDSMC) and importance sampling with LDSMC (ISLDSMC) methods. The LDSMC and ISLDSMC methods can effectively compute an accurate limit state exceedance probability of GRS slopes with a limited number of simulations. By using importance sampling, random variables can be generated in an expected failure region, thereby enabling enumeration by the Monte Carlo simulation. The failure region can be searched by the conventional first-order reliability method. To increase the computational efficiency, a low-discrepancy sequence, which is a sequence of quasi-random numbers with uniform distribution, is adopted in this study. The numerical simulation in this study revealed that the LDSMC and ISLDSMC methods can effectively compute an accurate limit state exceedance probability of GRS slopes by performing comparatively fewer simulations than the conventional crude Monte Carlo simulation.
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Acknowledgments
The writer would like to acknowledge the critical and informative comments of the editor, Craig Benson, and anonymous referees.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 4 • April 2007
Pages: 393 - 404
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 28, 2005
Accepted: Oct 13, 2006
Published online: Apr 1, 2007
Published in print: Apr 2007
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