Numerical Analysis of Stability and Risk in Highly Variable Soils
Professor Vaughan Griffiths
There has been a rapid growth of interest in risk assessment, and the use of probabilistic methods in geotechnical engineering. This is a logical development, since soils and rocks are among the most variable of all engineering materials. Analysis of a typical stability problem may lead to a “probability of failure”, as opposed to the more traditional “factor of safety”, representing a fundamental shift in the way engineers need to think about the suitability of their designs. The lecture will include results of stability analyses by the finite element method, and a discussion of the sensitivity of design outcomes to load and resistance factors. The presentation will also describe some simple probabilistic analyses and show how failure to include spatial variability may leave to unsafe stability predictions.
Parts of this lecture were given as the H. Bolton Seed Lecture at the Geo-Institute Symposium in Orlando, FL. March 2017.
About the speaker
Professor Vaughan Griffiths Professor of Civil Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
Vaughan Griffiths is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. His interests lie in the application of finite element and risk assessment methodologies in civil engineering. His papers on slope stability are among the most highly cited in the geotechnical engineering research literature. He is the co-author of three textbooks that have gone into multiple editions including the Chinese language on “Programming the Finite Element Method” by Smith and Griffiths, “Risk Assessment in Geotechnical Engineering” by Fenton and Griffiths and “Numerical Methods for Engineers” by Griffiths and Smith. He gives regular short-courses on Risk Assessment in Geotechnical Engineering for practitioners (often with Gordon Fenton), with recent offerings in China, New Zealand, Australia, Colombia, Norway, Canada, Taiwan and the USA. Professor Griffiths is an editor of Computers and Geotechnics and was on the Advisory Panel of Géotechnique from 2012-2018. In 2017, he was named the Cross-Canada Lecturer by the Canadian Geotechnical Society and received the H. Bolton Seed Medal from the ASCE/Geo-Institute. He served as an ASCE Director from 2010-2013.
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