Challenges in geotechnical design revealed by reliability assessment: Review and future perspectives

Abstract

This report discusses the challenges associated with geotechnical design through a review of research on the reliability analysis of geotechnical structures. This report is organized into two parts: (1) challenges related to the geotechnical structural design in the conventional and narrow sense, and (2) challenges related to evolving the geotechnical structural design in the broad sense. In the first part, the uncertainties to be considered in foundation design are listed, and their statistics are examined. Additionally, the sensitivities of each uncertainty propagation to the design outcome (performance) are examined, and the perspectives in the narrow sense of structural design are discussed. In the second part, the necessity of evaluating the temporal change of the structural state (structural performance) by reliability updates with additional observations, considering the design of geotechnical structures as the management system of the initial design, construction, and maintenance through a review of research is discussed. Furthermore, the importance of evolving to a more flexible design system, i.e., recalling the original idea of the performance design concept, is indicated.

Keywords

• Reliability-based design
• Reliability analysis
• Geotechnical engineering
• Review
• Future-perspective