Reliability analysis for geotechnical problems via finite elements - A practical application

This paper presents some preliminary results from a comprehensive study on the application of the finite element method for reliability analysis in geotechnics. Some remarks on the stochastic nature of soil properties are given together with typical values for their stochastic modelling. The numerical procedure adopted (a point estimate method) is briefly described. A finite-element code is used to process the input variables and determine the input parameters for the performance function. The practicability of the suggested procedure is shown by solving an idealized tunnel excavation problem.