A new procedure for simulating the active lateral force (Pa) is proposed for clays with anisotropic spatially variable undrained shear strength (su). With the proposed procedure, the Pa samples can be simulated without the use of the random field finite element method (RFEM). It requires only simple algebraic calculations and chart checking. Two retaining wall examples with isotropic or anisotropic random field are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed procedure.

This paper shows that the mobilized shear strength of a two-dimensional (2-D) spatially variable saturated undrained clay is closely related to the extreme value of a one-dimensional (1-D) continuous stationary stochastic process. This 1-D stochastic process is the integration of the 2-D spatially variable shear strength along potential slip curves. Based on this finding, a probability distribution model for the mobilized shear strength of the 2-D clay is developed based on a probability distribution model for the extreme value of the 1-D stochastic process. The latter (the model for the 1-D extreme value) has analytical expressions. With the proposed probability distribution model, the mobilized shear strength of a 2-D clay can be simulated without the costly random field finite element analyses.