The critical scale of fluctuation for active lateral forces in spatially variable undrained clays

Abstract This study addresses the phenomenon of the critical scale of fluctuation (SOF) for active lateral force ( P a ) in undrained clay when there is a spatial variability in the clay. The phenomenon is significant under shear strength ( τ f ) random fields but is insignificant under unit weight ( γ ) random fields. It is found that the phenomenon of the critical SOF is connected to the nature of the spatial averaging, which is “line averaging” under τ f random fields and is “area averaging” under γ random fields. The former averaging effect (line) is significantly weaker than the latter (area), so the tendency for the critical slip plane to seek for a favorable location is stronger for the τ f random field than for the γ random field. Hence, the phenomenon of the critical SOF is more pronounced under τ f random fields than under γ random fields. The underlying mechanisms for the phenomenon of the critical SOF will be explored in this paper.