| "To meet the public demand to reduce the cost of dam construction, it is necessary to establish a rational design method for embankment dams. As the materials used for embankment dams are of variable strength and density, their design values must be determined based on test results considering variability. Furthermore, the influence of variability of strength and density on the safety of the dam body should be investigated.According to the present design method for embankment dams in Japan, the design values of material strength and density are decided based on the values of test results considering variability. The design values are generally smaller than the values of the test results, and the difference is sometimes large.In this study, we first investigate the variability of strength and density from test results in existing embankment dams, and evaluate the difference in design values and test results. Next, based on the results of the first investigation on existing embankment dams, we conduct stability analysis of a model embankment dam using the reliability analysis method considering variability in strength.We found that the distribution in the test results for strength and density is thought to be a normal distribution, and that the probability of a safety factor less than 1.0 is very small under the present design and construction method." |
