Reliability updating for lateral failure of historic quay walls

The historic canal walls of Amsterdam, stretching 200 km in total, are constructed as a masonry wall on a timber deck supported by vertical timber piles. Understanding the resistance against lateral failure of these quays has been challenging due to uncertainties in their working principles, geometry, soil and structural properties. This...

Finite element-based reliability assessment of quay walls

While reliability methods have already been widely adopted in civil engineering, the efficiency and robustness of finite element-based reliability assessments of quay walls are still fairly low. In this paper, the reliability indices of structural and geotechnical failure modes of two real-life quay walls are determined by coupling...

Time-dependent reliability analysis of service-proven quay walls subject to corrosion-induced degradation

The assessment of service-proven quay walls subject to corrosion-induced degradation is inherently a time-dependent reliability problem. Two major challenges are the modelling of corrosion and taking into account the decrease of epistemic uncertainty throughout the quay wall's service life. The main objective of this study is to examine the...

Post-flood field investigation in the Lower Chao Phraya River Basin 23 - 27 January 2012: Findings of the Thai - Dutch Reconnaissance Team

Risk-based target reliability indices for quay walls

Design codes and standards rely on generalised target reliability indices. It is unclear, however, whether these indices are applicable to the specific risk-profile of marine structures. In this study, target reliability indices for quay walls were derived from various risk acceptance criteria, such as economic optimisation, individual risk ...

On the importance of analyzing flood defense failures

Flood defense failures are rare events but when they do occur lead to significant amounts of damage. The defenses are usually designed for rather low-frequency hydraulic loading and as such typically at least high enough to prevent overflow. When they fail, flood defenses like levees built with modern design codes usually either fail due to wave...

Developments in levee reliability and flood risk analysis in the Netherlands

This paper presents and overview of advances in flood risk and levee reliability analysis in the Netherlands. It is described how new safety standards – in the form of a target failure probability – have been derived on the basis of nationwide flood risk assessments which taken into account both economic risk and risk to life. The process for...

Developments in Levee Reliability and Flood Risk Analysis in the Netherlands

This paper presents and overview of advances in flood risk and levee reliability analysis in the Netherlands. It is described how new safety standards – in the form of a target failure probability – have been derived on the basis of nationwide flood risk assessments which taken into account both economic risk and risk to life. The process for...

Briefing: Lessons learned from failures of flood defences

Failure of flood defences during extreme events can lead to enormous damage and loss of life. This paper presents lessons learned from investigations of flood events over recent years, including the 2005 flooding in New Orleans, USA, caused by hurricane Katrina. Based on these findings, new developments in the field of research, design and...

Advances in reliability analysis of the piping failure mechanism of flood defences in the Netherlands

Piping is one of the main failure mechanisms for flood defences. This paper gives an overview of recent developments in the reliability analysis for this mechanism in the Netherlands. These comprise new approaches in the treatment of heterogeneity of the subsoil with respect to the failure process, the inclusion of information from field...

Floods in Germany