Uncertainty of Mechanical Behavior of River Dikes Related to Material Spatial Heterogeneity

摘要

Geomaterials have large spatial heterogeneity compared with other materials, which should be taken into consideration in reliability design.The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of geomaterial spatial heterogeneity on the uncertainty of the mechanical behavior of soil structures.In this study, the seismic behavior of a fiver dike was analyzed using two-dimensional finite element analysis with consideration of spatial heterogeneity.Then, a Monte Carlo simulation was performed for each trial of the finite element analysis.It was established that: (1) the uncertainty of the results increased when the relevant value of spatial heterogeneity was increased, and (2) the results of the homogenous value analysis revealed dangerous consequences concerning structural safety when compared with the expected value derived from the heterogeneity analysis.In the future, it will be necessary to examine the influence of the parameters controlling the spatial heterogeneity of the material on the numerical stability of the distribution.