Uncertainty analysis of correlated non-normal geotechnical parameters using Gaussian copula

Determining the joint probability distribution of correlated non-normal geotechnical parameters based on incomplete statistical data is a challenging problem.This paper proposes a Gaussian copula-based method for modelling the joint probability distribution of bivariate uncertain data.First,the concepts of Pearson and Kendall correlation coefficients are presented,and the copula theory is briefly introduced.Thereafter,a Pearson method and a Kendall method are developed to determine the copula parameter underlying Gaussian copula.Second,these two methods are compared in computational efficiency,applicability,and capability of fitting data.Finally,four load-test datasets of load-displacement curves of piles are used to illustrate the proposed method.The results indicate that the proposed Gaussian copula-based method can not only characterize the correlation between geotechnical parameters,but also construct the joint probability distribution function of correlated non-normal geotechnical parameters in a more general way.It can serve as a general tool to construct the joint probability distribution of correlated geotechnical parameters based on incomplete data.The Gaussian copula using the Kendall method is superior to that using the Pearson method,which should be recommended for modelling and simulating the joint probability distribution of correlated geotechnical parameters.There exists a strong negative correlation between the two parameters underlying load-displacement curves.Neglecting such correlation will not capture the scatter in the measured load-displacement curves.These results substantially extend the application of the copula theory to multivariate simulation in geotechnical engineering.

Reliability analysis of earth dams using direct coupling

Numerical methods are helpful for understanding the behaviors of geotechnical installations.However,the computational cost sometimes may become prohibitive when structural reliability analysis is performed,due to repetitive calls to the deterministic solver.In this paper,we show how accurate and efficient reliability analyses of geotechnical installations can be performed by directly coupling geotechnical software with a reliability solver.An earth dam is used as the study object under different operating conditions.The limit equilibrium method of Morgenstern-Price is used to calculate factors of safety and find the critical slip surface.The conmercial software packages Seep/W and Slope/W are coupled with StRAnD structural reliability software.Reliability indices of critical probabilistic surfaces are evaluated by the first-and second-order structural reliability methods(FORM and SORM),as well as by importance sampling Monte Carlo(ISMC)simulation.By means of sensitivity analysis,the effective friction angle(φ′)is found to be the most relevant uncertain geotechnical parameter for dam equilibrium.The correlations between different geotechnical properties are shown to be relevant in terms of equilibrium reliability indices.Finally,it is shown herein that a critical slip surface,identified in terms of the minimum factor of safety(FS),is not the critical surface in terms of the reliability index.