Design of drilled shafts involves a number of constraints that have been improved by advanced analytical design methods and by using input from performance monitoring and instrumentation. The number of variables involved in design require an assessment of the data and assumptions are reliable. Despite improvements in design and monitoring, the variability in soil and subsurface conditions as well as the reliability of models introduce an element of risk, which the designer avoids primarily by incorporating redundancy in design. In the last two decades probabilistic and statistical methods have been introduced in predicting soil properties and behavior, thereby refining the predicted behavior of the designed structure. Design of geotechnical structures using a risk-based approach was recently introduced for the design of levees. This paper builds on the concept of applying risk-based design method to the design of other geotechnical structures, such as retaining structures, and this paper considers such an approach to the design of drilled shafts.
Subjects: Drilled Shafts, design, risk-based analysis, risk-based assessment
Author: Ramanujachari Kannan, P.E. D.GE., FASCE
Publisher: DFI and PFSF