Failure Probability of an Optimally Designed Gravity Retaining Wall
Publication: ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering
Volume 8, Issue 2
Abstract
The paper presents an optimal design for a gravity retaining wall based on a mixed-integer constrained optimization. To solve this optimization problem, a real coded genetic algorithm was applied. The gravity retaining wall optimization model (OPT-GRW) includes a cost function of the wall, which is limited by design and resistance constraints. The deterministic optimization model, based on partial safety factors, was extended by an optimization approach in which the cost objective function was constrained by a defined target probability of failure. The paper presents an example for determining the most cost-effective gravity retaining wall for given design parameters. The presented case study shows the optimization process based on Eurocode 7, which takes into account part of the uncertainty of the soil parameters. As the study progresses, the need for optimization based on the probability of failure becomes crucial, as several designs exist with the same probability of failure, but only one is optimal.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency, research core funding No. P2-0268.
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Published In
ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering
Volume 8 • Issue 2 • June 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 14, 2021
Accepted: Dec 13, 2021
Published online: Feb 2, 2022
Published in print: Jun 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jul 2, 2022
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