System reliability assessment of soil nail walls

An analytical model defining soil nail walls' probability of failure with respect to external and internal stability is developed in the present study. Unit weight, shear strength properties and ultimate bond strength along the soil nail interface are modelled as random variables and computations of reliability are performed using Monte Carlo simulations. The proposed methodology is illustrated through a case example, in order to identify the critical failure modes and the dependency among them. Furthermore, the influence of the random variables' probability distribution function on the probability of failure is examined, as well as the importance of the cross-correlation between them.