A Benchmark Slope For System Reliability Analysis

摘要

In a probabilistic slope stability analysis, the failure probability associated with the most critical slip surface (the one with the minimum reliability index) is known to be smaller than that obtained for the system as a whole where all potential slip surfaces are considered. System slope reliability has been studied in recent years by several probabilistic methods, including the Random Finite Element Method (RFEM), Limit Equilibrium Methods (LEM) combined with First Order Reliability Methods (FORM), and Response Surface Methods (RSM). The only one of these methods that can properly account for spatial variability however is the RFEM. In this paper, we set up a benchmark slope for system reliability analysis and compare the probability of failure obtained both with and without inclusion of spatial variability. The paper will give recommendations for the types of slope reliability problems that benefit from proper consideration of spatial variability.