Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine in more detail under what conditions would spatial averaging over some prescribed region be sufficient to reproduce the response statistics arising from a spatially varying field. The spatially variable undrained shear strength will be first simulated by a random field. The active lateral force of the spatially variable soil mass to a retaining wall is simulated using the random field finite element method. This active lateral force is the actual active lateral force exhibited by the spatially variable soil. This actual active lateral force is compared to the active lateral force of a homogeneous soil mass whose shear strength equal to the spatial average over a prescribed area/line of interest. Based on these numerical studies, it is observed that the actual active lateral force (a random variable) and the spatial average active lateral force (a second random variable) are at most equal in “distribution”, but not “almost everywhere”.
