System Reliability of Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls Incorporating Complete External Failure Modes
Publication: ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering
Volume 8, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper presents a study of the system reliability of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls by considering all four external failure modes: excessive eccentricity, lateral sliding, insufficient bearing capacity, and deep-seated instability. The focus of this study is (1) to quantify the correlation between any two failure modes, (2) to statistically examine the dependency between any two failure modes, (3) to estimate the system probability of failure using both Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) and formula of union, and (4) to validate the probability bounds of system reliability. Based on MCS, the probabilities of the intersections and unions of various combinations of failure modes are evaluated. The results from this study point to the importance of incorporating all failure modes in a series system of MSE walls and reveal the statistical correlation and independence among different failure modes.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
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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: Jul 21, 2021
Accepted: Dec 15, 2021
Published online: Jan 31, 2022
Published in print: Jun 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jun 30, 2022
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