Uncertainty analysis in geotechnical engineering-a comparative study of selected approaches

Abstract

In this paper common probabilistic methods for dealing with uncertainty in geotechnical engineering are investigated and compared with an alternative approach based on interval analysis. The selected methods are examined in view of i) an appropriate modeling of the information actually available in practical cases, ii) the transfer of the uncertainty to the computational results, and iii) the interpretation of the results. A simple nonlinear settlement problem is used for the study and considered as known in a deterministic form. This describes the input-to-output transformation of the available information in all cases. Representative available information about the parameters of the settlement model is taken from literature, and typical practical specifications for the parameters are considered. © 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, London.