Consideration of variability of soil parameters in probabilistic soil modeling

Abstract

Geotechnical design in past decades has been based on a conventional deterministic approach. However, this approach takes no account of the large uncertainty resulting from in situ soil variability and the probability of failure is not quantified. An alternative and more recent is probabilistic approach which takes into account the uncertainty involved in the soil parameters. Prediction of the performance of soil-structure system in real conditions requires as accurately as possible modeling of soil parameters. In order to provide more accurate modeling of the soil layers using probabilistic methods, it is necessary to consider the spatial variability of soil parameters. In this paper various statistical parameters such as the mean value, coefficient of variation, variance, scale of fluctuation, etc, and probability distributions (normal, lognormal, beta, etc.) commonly used to describe this variability, are reviewed. The paper also presents the procedures for quantifying spatial variability of soil parameters. © SGEM2012 All Rights Reserved by the International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM.