Life-cycle reliability-based assessment of internal stability for mechanically stabilized earth walls in a heavy haul railway

This paper presents an efficient system reliability approach for the internal instability of mechanically stabilized earth walls in a heavy haul railway. The first-order reliability method is adopted to assess the wall failures due to rupture and pullout. The effects of uncertainties in the backfill unit weight, the friction angle of backfill and the friction along the soil-reinforcement interface, as well as the width, thickness and tensile strength of steel strips are explicitly explored. Moreover, the system reliability analysis clearly demonstrates the impact of steel corrosion on the life-cycle retaining wall stability.