Short Course Uncertainty Quantification, Reliability and Sensitivity Analyses applied to Geotechnics and Structures
20 novembre 2025
Motivation
We are glad to invite you to the 6th edition of this short course, organised in HEIA-FR Fribourg Switzerland, and online, via Zoom. This year emphasis will be put on hands-on exercises and an introduction to Bayesian analysis.
Uncertainty is present everywhere in geotechnical engineering and soil-structure interaction analysis: soil parameters are usually not known exactly, and also vary in space. Common practice consists in performing a deterministic analysis with "safety" factors. However, this technique does not give much insight into what the actual risk is. Today, stronger integration of probabilistic approaches into safety assessment procedures and geotechnical computation mechanics in general seems appropriate.
This short course will give participants an insight into probabilistic approaches, uncertainty quantification, reliability, sensitivity and Bayesian analyses, and the associated benefits to a deterministic approach. Practical applications including typical geotechnical problems (slope stability, foundation bearing capacity, anchored wall, and tunnel in urban environment) will be discussed and solved using UQLab and the ZSoil reliability module, ZSoil-R.
Target Audience
Civil and geotechnical engineers from the practice, researchers.
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