Efficient Monte Carlo Simulation of parameter sensitivity in probabilistic slope stability analysis

Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) method has been widely used in probabilistic analysis of slope stability, and it provides a robust and simple way to assess failure probability. However, MCS method does not offer insight into the relative contributions of various uncertainties (e.g., inherent spatial variability of soil properties and subsurface stratigraphy) to the failure probability and suffers from a lack of resolution and efficiency at small probability levels. This paper develop a probabilistic failure analysis approach that makes use of the failure samples generated in the MCS and analyzes these failure samples to assess the effects of various uncertainties on slope failure probability. The approach contains two major components: hypothesis tests for prioritizing effects of various uncertainties and Bayesian analysis for further quantifying their effects. Equations are derived for the hypothesis tests and Bayesian analysis. The probabilistic failure analysis requires a large number of failure samples in MCS, and an advanced Monte Carlo Simulation called Subset Simulation is employed to improve efficiency of generating failure samples in MCS. As an illustration, the proposed probabilistic failure analysis approach is applied to study a design scenario of James Bay Dyke. The hypothesis tests show that the uncertainty of undrained shear strength of lacustrine clay has the most significant effect on the slope failure probability, while the uncertainty of the clay crust thickness contributes the least. The effect of the former is then further quantified by a Bayesian analysis. Both hypothesis test results and Bayesian analysis results are validated against independent sensitivity studies. It is shown that probabilistic failure analysis provides results that are equivalent to those from additional sensitivity studies, but it has the advantage of avoiding additional computational times and efforts for repeated runs of MCS in sensitivity studies. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.