An Analytical Approach of Geotechnical Reliability-Based Design and Its Application

This paper presents an analytical approach for the reliability analysis for geotechnical design problems. The concept of the Hasofer-Lind reliability index and design point of geotechnical performance functions are reviewed from the prospective of the expanding ellipsoid. Their analytical expressions with the statistical characteristics of geotechnical load and resistance input variables are derived using the advanced first order second moment method and the joint probability density function of A performance function. These analytical expressions can be used in practical problems to evaluate different design alternatives in an effective and prompt way. As an illustrative example, the proposed analytical reliability analysis procedure is applied to a flexible pavement problem.