RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF COUNTERFORT RETAINING WALL

This paper presents stability analysis of typical counterfort retaining wall, accounting for uncertainties in the design input parameters in the framework of reliability theory. The factor of safety used for design of structure is unable to solve the uncertainties associated with the random variables. The First Order Reliability Method (FORM), Second Order Reliability Method (SORM) and Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) Method are used to calculate the reliability index or probability of failure associated with various modes of failure (geotechnical and structural) of typical retaining wall. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the sensitiveness of random variables involved in the stability analysis counterfort retaining wall. The results are presented in the form of reliability index and factor of safety for critical modes of failure. The results indicate that constant factor of safety is unable to get desired reliability index or probability of failure. In addition system reliability of counterfort retaining wall are also computed and partial correlation coefficient calculated for two modes of failure(sliding failure and overturning failure) between the random variables used in the counterfort retaining wall.