Statistic Analyses of Correlation Distances of Soil Parameters

The correlation distance is one of the important parameters for the application of random field theory to reliability analyses. Soil spatial variability is related to soil point variability with the reduction factor of variance in random field theory, and the reduction factor of variance depends on both soil auto-correlation distance and spatial area. The sampling space effect on auto-correlation distance is studied. The vertical and horizontal correlation distances of typical stratum are analyzed in statistics based on a large amount of investigation data and the representative values of correlation distance of local area are obtained. It is concluded that that the correlation distances estimated by different soil parameters are similar, and the horizontal correlation distance is much larger than the vertical one for the same soil parameter. The sampling space should be paid attention to when calculating correlation distance of soil parameter.

References

[1] Esterhuizen, G. S. Combined point estimate and Monte Carlo techniques for the analysis of wedge failure in rock slope. Proc. Of the ISRM International Symp. on Static and Dynamic Considerations in Rock Engineering, R. K. Brummer, ed., 125–132 (1990).

[2] Genske, D. D., and Walz, B. Probabilistic assessment of the stability of rock slopes. Struct. Safety, 9, 179–195 (1991).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-4730(91)90042-8

[3] Griffiths, D. V., and Fenton, G. A. Probabilistic slope stability analysis by finite elements. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 130 (5), 507–518 (2004).

[4] Gui, S., Zhang, R., Turner, J. P., and Xue, X. Probabilistic slope stability analysis with stochastic soil hydraulic conductivity. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126 (1), 1–9 (2000).

[5] Ang, A. H. -S., and Tang, W. H. Probability concepts in engineering planning and design: Decision, Risk, and Reliability, Vol. II, Wiley, New York (1984).

[6] Christian, J. T., Ladd, C. C., and Baecher, G. B. Reliability applied to slope stability analysis. J. Geotech. Eng., 120_12_, 2180–2207 (1994).

[7] Einstein, H. H. Modern developments in discontinuity analysis—The persistence-connectivity problem. Compr. Rock Eng., 3, 193–213 (1993).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-042066-0.50016-1

[8] Vanmarcke, E. H. Probabilistic modeling of soil profiles. J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 103(11), 1227–1246 (1977).

[9] Vanmarcke, E. Random fields: Analysis and synthesis, MIT, Cambridge, Mass (1983).

[10] Kim, H. S., Major, G., and Ross Brown, D. Application of Monte Carlo techniques to slope stability analyses. Proc., 19th U.S. Symp. on Rock Mechanics, 2, 28–39 (1978).

[11] Lumb, P. Safety factors and the probability distribution of soil strength. Can. Geotech. J., 7 (3), 225–242 (11970).

[12] Priest, S. D., and Brown, E. T. Probabilistic stability analysis of variable rock slopes. Trans. Inst. Min. Metall., Sect. C, 92, A1–A12 (1983).

[13] Singh, A. How reliable is the factor of safety in foundation engineering. Int. Conf. on Application of Statistics and Probability to Soil and Structural Engineering, Hong-Kong (1971).