Modified, Reliability-Based Robust Geotechnical Design Method, in Accordance with Eurocode 7

Abstract

In this paper a modification of the reliability-based robust geotechnical design (RGD) method is proposed. The intention of the proposed modifications is to simplify the method, make it less computationally expensive, and harmonise of the results with Eurocode 7. The complexity of the RGD method mainly stems from the calculation of the design’s robustness measure, which is the feasibility robustness index (). Due to this fact, the replacing of the existing robustness measure with a generalised reliability index () is considered. It was demonstrated that fits into the robustness concept, and is traditionally used as a construction reliability measure, making it intuitive and “user friendly”. It is proposed to conduct a sensitivity analysis using Soboli indices, with the aim of freezing the variables whose contribution to the system response variance is negligible, which will further simplify the method. By changing the robustness measure, the number of the required reliability analyses is significantly decreased. Further reduction is achieved by conducting analyses only for the designs chosen in the scope of the genetic algorithm. The original RGD method is used as an extension of traditional reliability-based design. By applying the proposed modifications, the RGD method can be used as an alternative to the classic and reliability-based design method.

Multi-objective optimization of retaining wall using genetic algorithm

“…Several authors explored the possibility of optimizing geotechnical structures by combining various optimization techniques with reliability theory (Dodigović et al, 2021;Gong et al, 2017Gong et al, , 2014Juang et al, 2012;Juang and Wang, 2013;Khoshnevisan et al, 2016Khoshnevisan et al, , 2014aKhoshnevisan et al, , 2014b. Numerous advantages of such an approach have been emphasized in the literature.…”