Multivariate stability assessment during staged construction

For staging the construction of embankments on soft clay, an important aspect in deterministic or probabilistic stability analyses is the assessment of the representative average values and associated uncertainties for the undrained shear strength as the height of the embankment is sequentially increased. Assessments made prior to construction can be verified by performing observations during the construction phase. All relevant available information should be incorporated into an analysis to increase the level of confidence and the objectivity of the assessment. To this end, we apply an extended multivariate approach to assess the undrained shear strength using different indirect measurement methods during the staged construction of the Veda embankment (Sweden). This multivariate approach implies that uncertainties associated with the assessments are reduced, and objectively weighted averages are obtained. The resulting implications on the calculated deterministic safety factors and the probabilistically retrieved reliability indices of the embankment are thoroughly discussed in this work.