Evolutionary Reliability-Based Tunneling Design Techniques

Abstract

Dependence on factors of safety and engineering experience/ judgment have been used to be the conservative tools to deal with uncertainty. Probabilistic techniques have been recently implemented to rational engineering design to quantify uncertainties associated with tunneling. These techniques have various forms, such as statistical-based limit equilibrium, and deterministic numerical analyses with random input engineering parameters. This paper presents a review of recent advances in probabilistic geotechnical/ tunneling design. This covers the geostatistical techniques used to predict the stratigraphic conditions and geotechnical parameters. The applicability of the above techniques is investigated with emphasis on their advantages and limitations in addition to identifying trends for future improvement.