Probabilistic Geotechnical Hydraulics

Abstract

Abstract In the field of hydraulic and geotechnical engineering and especially in the overlapping field, geotechnical hydraulic engineering, there are a large number of issues, which are probably solvable with a classical engineering approach, but which can be brought to a better financial and social optimum with a probabilistic approach. The reason for this is that in hydraulic engineering, the size and probability of exceedance of loading variables are only partially known and that in geotechnical engineering the strength variables of soils are also only partially known. The soil behavior depends strongly on its location and also on time because of the pore water pressures, for example, the softening of dikes at high water levels and the strength dissipation at excavations (building pits). In this short article, important research issues within geotechnical hydraulic engineering are discussed, followed by the modeling of failure mechanisms and random fields.