Estimation of soil properties and deformations in staged constructions based on mcmc method

This paper presents a Bayesian probabilistic framework to assess soil properties and model uncertainty to better predict excavation-induced deformations using field deformation data. The potential correlations between deformations at different depths are accounted for in the likelihood function needed in the Bayesian approach. The proposed approach also accounts for inclinometer measurement errors. The posterior statistics of the unknown soil properties and the model parameters are computed using the Delayed Rejection (DR) method and the Adaptive Metropolis (AM) method. As an application, the proposed framework is used to assess the unknown soil properties of multiple soil layers using deformation data at different locations and for incremental excavation stages. The developed approach can be used for the design of optimal revisions for supported excavation systems. © 2010 ASCE.