Probabilistic stability study of optimally designed retaining structures against nonlinear soil backfills

Abstract

This study adopts a reliability-based optimization approach for the failure mechanism analysis and design of the retaining wall considering nonlinear soil backfills. The assumed failure mechanism is represented by rigid blocks within a kinematically admissible framework in a rotational coordinate system. Then the active and passive earth pressures are derived from the optimization procedure. A convenient way for incorporating seepage effects is proposed and implemented in the nonlinear upper bound analysis. Finally, a novel response surface method is employed to calculate the failure probability considering different probabilistic scenarios and distribution types with high calculation efficacy. The accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated using the Monte Carlo simulations with 1 million trials. Sensitivity analysis indicated that soil unit weight and initial cohesion are the critical factors dominating the failure probability of passive and active mechanism, respectively. The reliability-based design can be performed to obtain the safe range of the lateral force against nonlinear soil backfills with a target failure probability.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

reliability analysis / retaining structure / improved response surface method / nonlinear failure / optimal earth pressure

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The Author(s). This article is published with open access at link.springer.com and journal.hep.com.cn