Estimating probability distribution of friction angle of cohesionless soils via result of site investigation

• Main Authors: Jian-Yi Yeh, 葉建儀
• Other Authors: Jian-Ye Ching
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/61682052538489229942

碩士 === 臺灣大學 === 土木工程學研究所 === 98 === It is essential to characterize the uncertainties of soil shear strengths, including friction angles of sands, for geotechnical reliability-based design. In particular, it is of practical interest to reduce the uncertainties in friction angles based on all available information by correlation, given the considerable cost of a typical site investigation. Although it is relatively simple to reduce uncertainties by correlation when the information is one dimensional (or univariate), it is quite challenging to reduce uncertainties by using multivariate information through multiple correlations. This study proposes a systematic way of constructing multivariate correlations on friction angles of clean sands. A set of simplified equations are obtained through Bayesian analysis for the purpose of reducing uncertainties. The inputs to the equations are the results of field and laboratory tests, and the outputs are the updated mean values and standard deviations of the friction angles. Test databases are used to demonstrate the consistency of the proposed simplified equations. Results show that uncertainties in friction angles can be effectively reduced by incorporating multivariate information. Given that reliability-based design can justify more economical design with reduced uncertainties, the proposed equations essentially link the value of more and/or better tests directly to final design savings.