Abstract
Determination of the factor of safety in slope stability problems is a common issue in geotechnical engineering. This paper calculates the factor of safety against failure in a reference case of a levee slope stability considering uncertainty of input parameters. Two different constitutive models are chosen to represent different levels of sophistication to predict soil mechanical behavior and consequently require different levels of formulation complexity. These two models are 1) The Mohr Coulomb Model (MC); and 2) The Soft Soil Model in a PLAXIS 2D software. Both models are calibrated to the same reference material (Boston Blue Clay, BBC). The paper investigates the effect of uncertainty regarding the input parameters of the soil model on the level of confidence in the factor of safety by performing a numerical experiment in both drained and undrained conditions. The research shows that in drained conditions, the more sophisticated volume-stress relations in the soft soil model are mobilized resulting in higher variations and less confidence in the factor of safety.
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