The authors have previously proposed a revised definition of factor of safety for free and propped embedded retaining walls. This appeared to overcome some of the difficulties which can arise in certain situations with current definitions of factor of safety. However before the method could be considered for wider use it was essential to carry out a thorough calibration study using a wide range of input parameters to ensure that there were no unforeseen problems. This report gives results from such a parametric study in which the revised definition of factor of safety has been compared with three other definitions in current use. The main trend of the results are illustrated for both drained and undrained conditions in the soil and consideration given to the choice of definition and value to be assigned to the factor of safety. For all cases examined the revised definition appeared to be well conditioned and to provide logical results. (Author/publisher)
Abstract