Reliability analysis on cantilever retaining walls embedded into stiff ground (Part 1: Contribution of major uncertainties in the elasto-plastic subgrade reaction method)

Reliability analysis was performed for cantilever retaining walls embedded in two-layer ground with deep stiff ground. The analysis was conducted by treating soil/rock properties, uniform surcharge, depth of the rock layer surface and yield strength of steel as random variables based on various previous works. We calculated sensitivity factors of each variable for the limit states in the persistent design situation. The contributions of scatters of the depth of the rock layer surface are high in the order of rotational failure, deformation failure, and flexural failure. The results suggest that the scatter of the depth of the rock layer surface should be considered, especially if varied horizontal layer is expected and the deformation failure or the rotational failure are determinants of the design.