Stochastic Slope Stability Analysis of an Embankment Supported by Isolated Soil–Cement Columns Considering Spatial Variability
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 4
Abstract
Two-dimensional, nonlinear, finite-difference analyses were used to investigate the stability of an embankment supported by spatially variable soil–cement columns. This study evaluated the improvement/merit of employing stochastic modeling approaches, such as spatially correlated random fields, relative to deterministic analysis, which commonly neglects spatial variability. The spatial variability, which is specified by mean, coefficient of variation (COV) and autocorrelation distance (), can significantly influence the performance of the treated in situ soils and the overlying structure. Reliability analyses with three types of spatial variable soil–cement columns were conducted using a COV value of 0.6 for the soil–cement strength, and the effects of the autocorrelation distance were evaluated. Gaussian spatially correlated random field models (stochastic models) with 100 realizations for each case were used in a strength-reduction analysis to determine the failure surface and safety factor. Results of the models with uniform material properties were compared with each of the stochastic model realizations. ANOVA was used to analyze the statistical difference between the means of safety factors. The stochastic distributions of safety factors and consequences of spatial variability on the failure mode of columns and embankment, and implications for engineering practice were discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models or code generated or used during the study are available upon reasonable request.
References
Al-Naqshabandy, M. S., N. Bergman, and S. Larsson. 2012. “Effect of spatial variability of the strength properties in lime-cement columns on embankment stability.” In Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Grout and Deep Mixing, 231–242. Reston, VA: ASCE. https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784412350.0009.
Baecher, G. B., and J. T. Christian. 2003. Reliability and statistics in geotechnical engineering. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Barron, R. F., C. Kramer, W. A. Herlache, J. Wright, H. Fung, and C. Liu. 2006. “Cement deep soil mixing remediation of Sunset North Basin Dam.” In Proc., Annual Conf. of State Dam Safety, 181–199. Lexington, KY: Association of State Dam Safety Officials.
Bergman, N. 2012. “Characterization of strength variability for reliability-based design of lime-cement columns.” Licentiate thesis, Royal Institute of Technology.
Boulanger, R. W., and J. Montgomery. 2016. “Nonlinear deformation analysis of an embankment dam on a spatially variable liquefiable deposit.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng. 91: 222–233.
Bruce, M. E. C., R. R. Berg, J. G. Collin, G. M. Filz, M. Terashi, and D. S. Yang. 2013. Deep mixing for embankment and foundation support. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration.
Chai, J., S. Shrestha, T. Hino, and T. Uchikoshi. 2017. “Predicting bending failure of CDM columns under embankment loading.” Comput. Geotech. 91 (Nov): 169–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2017.07.015.
Chen, J., F. H. Lee, and C. C. Ng. 2011. “Statistical analysis for strength variation of deep mixing columns in Singapore.” In Proc., Geo-Frontiers, 576–584. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Cho, S. E. 2007. “Effect of spatial variability of soil properties on slope stability.” Eng. Geol. 92: 97–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2007.03.006.
Coldwell, E., M. Khosravi, S. Zaregarizi, S. Perkins, and J. Montgomery. 2020. “Stability analysis of an embankment supported by spatially variable soil-cement columns.” In Proc., Geo-Congress. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Constantine, P. G., and Q. Wang. 2012. “Random field simulation.” Accessed December 1, 2019. http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/27613-random-field-simulation.
Davis, M. W. 1987. “Production of conditional simulations via the LU triangular decomposition of the covariance matrix.” Math. Geol. 19 (2): 91–98.
Dawson, E. M., W. H. Roth, and A. Drescher. 1999. “Slope stability analysis by strength reduction.” Géotechnique 49 (6): 835–840. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1999.49.6.835.
Fenton, A., and D. V. Griffiths. 2008. Risk assessment in geotechnical engineering. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Fenton, G. A., and D. V. Griffiths. 2005. “Three-dimensional probabilistic foundation settlement.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 131 (2): 232–239. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2005)131:2(232).
Filliben, J. 1975. “The probability plot correlation coefficient test for normality.” Technometrics 17 (1): 111–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/00401706.1975.10489279.
Filz, G. M., and M. P. Navin. 2010. “A practical method to account for strength variability of deep-mixed ground.” In Proc., Geo-Florida, 2426–2433. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Futaki, M., and M. Tamura. 2002. “The quality control in deep mixing method for the building foundation ground in Japan.” In Proc., Tokyo Workshop 2002 on Deep Mixing, 139–149. Tokyo: Port and Airport Research Institute and Coastal Development Institute of Technology.
Honjo, Y. 1982. “A probabilistic approach to evaluate shear strength of heterogeneous stabilized ground by deep mixing method.” Soils Found. 22 (1): 23–38. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf1972.22.23.
Huang, J., D. V. Griffiths, and A. Fenton. 2010. “System reliability of slopes by RFEM.” Soils Found. 50 (3): 343–353.
Itasca. 2016. FLAC, fast Lagrangian analysis of continua: User’s guide, version 8.0. Minneapolis: Itasca.
Jiang, S. H., and J. Huang. 2016. “Efficient slope reliability analysis at low-probability levels in spatially variable soils.” Comput. Geotech. 75: 18–27.
Kasama, K., and A. Whittle. 2016. “Effect of spatial variability on the slope stability using random field numerical limit analyses.” Georisk: Assess. Manage. Risk Eng. Syst. Geohazards 10 (1): 42–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/17499518.2015.1077973.
Kasama, K., A. J. Whittle, and K. Zen. 2012. “Effect of spatial variability on the bearing capacity of cement-treated ground.” Soils Found. 52 (4): 600–619.
Khosravi, M., and M. Khabbazian. 2012. “Presentation of critical failure surface of slopes based on the finite element technique.” In Proc., Geo-Congress, 536–545. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Khosravi, M., M. Pourakbar, A. Soroush, S. Zaregarizi, W. Y. Hung, and A. Nabizadeh. 2020. “Dynamic centrifuge test of an embankment underlain a liquefiable soil and isolated soil-cement columns.” In Proc., 17th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Kitazume, M., and K. Maruyama. 2006. “External stability of group column type deep mixing improved ground under embankment loading.” Soils Found. 46 (3): 323–340. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf.46.323.
Kitazume, M., and K. Maruyama. 2007. “Internal stability of group column type deep mixing improved ground under embankment loading.” Soils Found. 47 (3): 437–455. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf.47.437.
Kitazume, M., and M. Terashi. 2013. The deep mixing method. London: CRC Press.
Larsson, S., H. Stille, and L. Olsson. 2005. “On horizontal variability in lime-cement columns in deep mixing.” Géotechnique 55 (1): 33–44. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2005.55.1.33.
Liu, C., and C. H. Chen. 2006. “Mapping liquefaction potential considering spatial correlation of CPT measurements.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 132 (9). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2006)132:9(1178).
Liu, Y., J. Hu, Y. Li, and L. Li. 2017. “Statistical evaluation of the overall strength of a soil-cement column under axial compression.” Constr. Build. Mater. 132: 51–60.
Liu, Y., F.-H. Lee, S.-T. Quek, E. J. Chen, and J.-T. Yi. 2015. “Effect of spatial variation of strength and modulus on the lateral compression response of cement-admixed clay slab.” Géotechnique 65 (10): 851–865. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.14.P.254.
Matsuo, O. 2002. “Determination of design parameters for deep mixing.” In Proc., Tokyo Workshop 2002 on Deep Mixing, 75–79. Tokyo: Port and Airport Research Institute and Coastal Development Institute of Technology.
Montgomery, J., and R. W. Boulanger. 2017. “Effects of spatial variability on liquefaction-induced settlement and lateral spreading.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 143 (1): 04016086. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001584.
Namikawa, T. 2016. “Conditional probabilistic analysis of cement-treated soil column strength.” Int. J. Geomech. 16 (1): 04015021. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000481.
Namikawa, T., and J. Koseki. 2013. “Effects of spatial correlation on the compression behavior of a cement-treated column.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 139 (8): 1346–1359. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000850.
Navin, M. P. 2005. “Stability of embankments founded on soft soil improved with deep-mixing-method columns.” Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ.
Nguyen, H. X. 2012. “Failure mechanism and stability charts for embankments on soft clays improved with deep mixing columns.” Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, New Mexico State Univ.
Phoon, K.-K., and F. H. Kulhawy. 1999. “Evaluation of geotechnical property variability.” Can. Geotech. J. 36 (4): 625–639. https://doi.org/10.1139/t99-039.
Popescu, R., J. H. Prevost, and G. Deodatis. 1997. “Effect of spatial variability on soil liquefaction: Some design recommendations.” Géotechnique 47 (5): 1019–1036.
Ramsey, F., and W. D. Schafer. 2013. The statistical sleuth: A course in method of data analysis. Boston: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.
R Core Team. 2019. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
Shiells, D. P., L. Thomas, and G. M. Filz. 2003. “Deep mixing: An owner’s perspective.” In Proc., 3rd Int. Conf. on Grouting and Ground Treatment. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Topolnicki, M. 2009. “Design and execution practice of wet soil mixing in Poland.” In Proc., Int. Symp. on Deep Mixing and Admixture Stabilization, 75–79. Yokosuka, Japan: Port and Airport Research Institute.
Tyagi, A., Y. Liu, Y.-T. Pan, K. B. M. Ridhwan, and F.-H. Lee. 2018. “Stability of tunnels in cement-admixed soft soils with spatial variability.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 144 (12): 06018012. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001988.
Usui, H. 2005. “Quality control of cement deep mixing method (wet mixing method) in Japan.” In Proc., Int. Conf. on Deep Mixing, 635–638. Stockholm, Sweden: Swedish Deep Stabilization Research Centre.
Voottipruex, P., D. T. Bergado, T. Suksawat, P. Jamsawang, and W. Cheang. 2012. “ Behavior and simulation of deep cement mixing (DCM) and stiffened deep cement mixing (SDCM) piles under full scale loading.” Soils Found. 51 (2): 307–320. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf.51.307.
Wijerathna, M., and D. S. Liyanapathirana. 2018. “Reliability-based performance of embankments improved with deep mixing considering spatial variability of material properties.” ASCE-ASME J. Risk Uncertainty Eng. Syst. Part A: Civ. Eng. 4 (4): 04018035. https://doi.org/10.1061/AJRUA6.0000987.
Wooten, L., and B. Foreman. 2005. “Deep soil mixing for seismic remediation of the Clemson upper and lower diversion dams.” In Proc., 25th Annual USSD Conf. Denver: United States Society on Dams.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 4, 2020
Accepted: Nov 24, 2020
Published online: Jan 26, 2021
Published in print: Apr 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jun 26, 2021
Authors
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.