Back Analysis of Material Properties

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Back Analysis of Material Properties

This tutorial will demonstrate how to perform back analysis of material properties using sensitivity analysis or probabilistic analysis features in Slide. Back analysis can be used to determine material strength at slope failure, or the required material strength to achieve a given safety factor. Sensitivity analysis can be used for back analysis of individual variables. Probabilistic analysis can be used for back analysis of multiple variables.

Topics covered: slope with known failure surface sensitivity analysis probabilistic analysis back analysis of material strength

The finished product of this tutorial can be found in the Tutorial 23 Back Analysis Material Properties.slim data file. All tutorial files installed with Slide 6.0 can be accessed by selecting File > Recent Folders > Tutorials Folder from the Slide main menu. Note: if you are not familiar with the sensitivity or probabilistic analysis options in Slide, it is recommended that you first review Slide tutorials 8, 9, 10 and 11.

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Model
Start the Slide Model program. Select File > Recent Folders > Tutorials Folder from the Slide main menu, and open the Tutorial 23 Back Analysis Material Properties.slim file. You should see the following model.

For this model a slope failure is assumed to have occurred. The actual failure surface is given by the red line shown in the above figure. The failure surface is non-circular and passes through a weak material layer (green material). The material above and below the weak layer (yellow material) is significantly stronger than the weak layer, and has the following strength properties: cohesion = 17.5 kPa and friction angle = 30 degrees. We will initially assign the weak layer the strength properties: cohesion = 5 kPa and friction angle = 15 degrees. Lets first run the analysis with these properties to see the results.

Compute
Select the Compute option.

Select: Analysis Compute

Since there is only a single slip surface defined the computation is instantaneous.

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Interpret
To view the results of the analysis:

Select: Analysis Interpret

This will start the Slide Interpret program. You should see the following.

For the Spencer analysis method, the safety factor of this slip surface is 0.99. This is consistent with an actual failure surface since the safety factor is approximately 1. We have arrived at this result using specific values of cohesion and friction angle for both materials (strong material and weak layer). In the remainder of this tutorial we will demonstrate how we can use sensitivity or probabilistic analysis, to perform back analysis of material properties assuming that one or more material strength parameters are unknown.

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Sensitivity Analysis
Return to the Slide Model program. Select Project Settings and select the Statistics option in the Project Settings dialog. Notice that the Sensitivity Analysis option (checkbox) is already selected.

Select OK or Cancel as we will not be making any changes right now.

Material Statistics
Now select the Materials option from the Statistics menu. You will see the following.

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For this example, we have already pre-defined two variables for a sensitivity analysis: Weak layer cohesion Weak layer friction angle

NOTE: the currently defined mean values of cohesion and friction angle (5 kPa and 15 degrees) result in a safety factor of 0.99 for the given slip surface. For this example, these values were already pre-determined in advance. Now, lets assume that the material strength parameters of the weak layer are NOT fully known. To begin with, lets assume that the cohesion is unknown, but the friction angle is known (15 degrees). How might we determine the value of weak layer cohesion? Using sensitivity analysis, and the fact that we have a known failure surface (safety factor = 1), we can easily determine a value of weak layer cohesion at failure. Lets first change the numbers a bit. Since we are assuming the cohesion is unknown, if this were an actual slope, we would initially be guessing at the range of possible values. In the Material Statistics dialog, enter a mean value = 10 kPa, and relative min and max values = 10 kPa. This will effectively vary the cohesion between 0 and 20 kPa for the sensitivity analysis.

Select OK in the dialog. Select Compute and select Interpret. You should see the following result.

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Interpret
Notice that the safety factor is now 1.082. This is because we changed the mean cohesion from 5 kPa to 10 kPa.

Since the mean values of all parameters are used to calculate the deterministic safety factor during a sensitivity or probabilistic analysis, any change to the mean values will affect the deterministic safety factor. Now select the Sensitivity Plot option from the Statistics menu or the toolbar. Make sure that only the Cohesion checkbox is selected and the friction angle checkbox is cleared as shown below.

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Select the Plot button and you should see the following sensitivity plot. As you can see, cohesion has been varied between 0 and 20 kPa, and the safety factor changes accordingly.

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Factor of Safety - spencer

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w eak layer : Cohesion (kN/m2)

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0.8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 w eak layer : Cohesion (kN/m2)

We want to know the value of cohesion which corresponds to safety factor = 1. We can do this as follows. Right-click on the plot and select Sample Exact Value from the popup menu. Enter a safety factor value = 1 as shown below and select OK.

The sensitivity plot will display the exact value of cohesion for safety factor = 1. A value of weak layer cohesion = 5.5 kPa corresponds to safety factor = 1. This assumes that all other slope parameters are exactly known and equal to their mean values (i.e. for a friction angle = 15 degrees, the cohesion at failure = 5.5 kPa).

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Factor of Safety - spencer

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w eak layer : Cohesion (kN/m2) 5.533 1.0 1.000

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0.8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 w eak layer : Cohesion (kN/m2)

Now lets assume that the cohesion is known and the friction angle is unknown.

Model
Return to the Slide Model program. Select Materials from the Statistics menu and enter the following values.

Select OK in the dialog. Select Compute and Interpret.

Interpret
Select Sensitivity Analysis Plot and plot only the friction angle.

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Select the Plot button and you should see the sensitivity plot with friction angle varying between 5 and 25 degrees. Right-click on the plot and select Sample Exact Value, enter safety factor = 1 and select OK.

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Factor of Safety - spencer

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15.32 1.0 1.000 w eak layer : Phi (deg)

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0.6 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 w eak layer : Phi (deg)

A friction angle = 15.3 degrees gives safety factor = 1. This assumes all other parameters are equal to their mean values (i.e. cohesion = 5 kPa). To summarize: sensitivity analysis can easily be used for back analysis of individual variables. Just remember, when you are viewing a sensitivity plot of an individual variable, all other analysis variables are assumed to be constant and equal to their mean value. In general, this procedure may require some trial and error, for example if the desired safety factor is not within the output range of the sensitivity plot, you will have to adjust the allowable range of values of the variable and re-run the analysis.

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Probabilistic Analysis
The probabilistic analysis option in Slide can be used to carry out back analysis of two variables simultaneously. For example, determine all possible values of cohesion AND friction angle for a specified factor of safety. Return to the Slide Model program and select Project Settings. Go to the Statistics option and turn on the Probabilistic Analysis checkbox. Select OK.

Material Statistics
Select Material Statistics from the Statistics menu. Since we are now performing probabilistic analysis (in addition to sensitivity analysis) notice that there are two additional inputs required for each variable: Distribution and Standard Deviation.

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We will use a Uniform Distribution for both cohesion and friction angle. Since we are assuming that BOTH cohesion and friction angle are unknown variables, a simple Uniform distribution will ensure that random samples are generated uniformly over the entire range of each variable. Note that for a Uniform distribution, the Standard Deviation is not applicable and is therefore disabled. Make sure that the mean, min and max values are as shown (cohesion, 5,5,5, and friction angle 15,5,5). Select OK. Select Compute and then Interpret.

Interpret
You should see the following results. Note that the deterministic safety factor is still 0.99. A summary of probabilistic results is also listed (PF = probability of failure = 53.8%, i.e. more than half of all outcomes result in slope failure. This is as expected, since the distribution of safety factors is approximately centered about the mean value of 1).

Now select the Scatter Plot option from the Statistics menu. In the Scatter Plot dialog make the following selections. Plot weak layer Cohesion versus Phi. Select the Hilight Data checkbox. Select Factor of Safety Spencer. Select the Range option and set a range of 0.99 to 1.01. Select the Plot button.

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You should see the following Scatter plot.

Since we chose a Uniform distribution for both Cohesion and Phi, and we did not use Correlation, you can see that samples have been uniformly generated over the entire specified range of both variables (i.e. cohesion 0 to 10 and friction angle 10 to 20). Notice the data points highlighted in red. These represent pairs of cohesion and friction angle, which result in a safety factor between 0.99 and 1.01 (as we specified in the scatter plot dialog). To view the highlighted data only, right-click on the plot and select Hilighted Data Only from the popup menu. The plot should look as follows.

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This plot shows the relationship between cohesion and friction angle for a safety factor of approximately 1. As you can see, the relationship is linear over the range of values plotted, for this example. The parameters of the linear best fit line through the highlighted data, are given at the bottom of the plot. The parameter alpha is the y-intercept and beta is the slope of the line. In this case: Friction angle = -0.58 cohesion + 18.2 You could use this equation to determine values of cohesion and friction angle over this range of values. You can also do this graphically with the sampler. If you right-click on the plot and select Snap sampler to line (xcoord) or (y-coord), you can graphically drag the sampler along the line with the mouse, and the coordinates (cohesion, phi) will be displayed interactively, as shown below.

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Any pair of cohesion, friction angle values which fall on this line, should give you a safety factor of about 1. For example: using the sampler we can determine that the data pair of cohesion = 2 and friction angle = 17 falls on this line. If you input this data as the strength of the weak layer and re-run the analysis, you will see that the safety factor does indeed = 1. Although the relationship is linear in this example, this will not always necessarily be the case. Depending on the range of values, variables plotted and the nature of your model, a scatter plot might exhibit any type of functional relationship between two variables. The above procedure can be used for any range of safety factor. For example, if you wanted to find values of cohesion and friction angle corresponding to some other value of safety factor, simply define a small range which brackets the safety factor (e.g. 1.19 to 1.21) using the Hilight Data option in the Scatter plot dialog.

Export to Excel
If you wish to do further processing of data using other applications, you can easily export data to Excel. For example, right-click on the Scatter plot and select Plot in Excel from the popup menu, and the graph and data will automatically be exported to Excel.

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Back Analysis of Other Variables

In this tutorial we have only looked at back analysis of material strength parameters, in particular, cohesion and friction angle of a Mohr-Coulomb material. In Slide nearly all input variables can be defined for use in a sensitivity or probabilistic analysis. The procedures described in this tutorial could be applied to other strength parameters and strength models (e.g. HoekBrown or anisotropic materials) or to any other random input parameter in Slide (e.g. support properties). The user is encouraged to experiment with the options available.

Back Analysis of Multiple Variables

Back analysis procedures involving more than two variables have been described for slope stability problems. However this is beyond the scope of this tutorial. Future versions of Slide may implement back analysis methods for simultaneous analysis of more than two variables. This concludes the back analysis of material properties tutorial. You may now exit the program.

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