Sampling Efficiency in Spatially Varying Soils for Slope Stability Assessment

Abstract

Siteinvestigationsareusuallycarriedoutingeotechnicalengineeringtotracktherangeofdesignparameters.Duetotheinherent soil spatial variability and usually limited scope of site exploration programs, the design parameters are usually uncertain at locationswheretestsamplesarenottaken.Thisuncertaintyoftenpropagatestotheresponseofgeotechnicalstructuressuchassoil slopes.Thispaperdevelopedaconditionalsimulationframeworktoinvestigatethesamplingefficiency(i.e.,samplinglocationand sampling distance) in designing slopes in spatially varying soils. A performance-based sampling efficiency index is proposed to achievethis.Itisfoundthattheoptimallocationtotakeverticalsamplesareinthevicinityofslopecresttoslopemidpointandthe optimal distance within a limited exploration scope is such that the additionalsample subdivides theinfluence domain toeither side of the first vertical sample.