Probabilistic analysis of slope stability in completely decomposed granite residual soils

Abstract

The effects of physical and chemical weathering processes in completely decomposed granitic rocks strongly condition the shear strength parameters commonly used in soil mechanics, where soils have high variability. The technological progress and the joint use of deterministic and probabilistic methods allow for the incorporation of soil variability within the calculations. This paper presents a probabilistic slope stability analysis using a model of random variables to characterize the shear strength parameters. The Monte Carlo simulation is used for generating the values of the random variables, which also allows for the simultaneous evaluation of slope stability in terms of the factor of safety, probability of failure and reliability index. The results of this methodology tend to be more conservative, considering the risk of using average safety factors to evaluate stability when considering the variability of soil properties.