Reliability analysis of sheet pile wall in spatially variable soil including CPTu test results

Abstract

The paper deals with reliability analysis of cantilever sheet pile wall located in non-cohesive soil with random properties. Spatial variability of friction angle has been described using random fields theory. The influence of both vertical as well as horizontal scale of fluctuation on the mechanical response of sheet pile wall is investigated. Deflection of wall top as well as maximum bending moment in the sheet pile wall are tested. The point distribution of soil friction and its vertical fluctuation scale is estimated using quasi-continuous results of cone penetrometer tests (CPTu). The boundary value problem is solved using finite difference code FLAC. The Fourier series method (FSM) allowing for non-uniform meshes is used to generate random fields for individual realizations. By utilizing Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) technique the probability distributions of the results for different values of vertical and horizontal scales of fluctuation are obtained and used for reliability analysis. The results of analysis show that in case of cantilever sheet pile wall it is very important to properly estimate value of vertical fluctuation scale for the reliability analysis. It is also illustrated that in the considered problem horizontal scale of fluctuation significantly influences probability of failure.