Case History Applications of Reliability Methods in Geotechnical Engineering: Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities

The following lessons have been learned from the application of reliability methods in the practice of geotechnical engineering: 1. Establishing Goals Is Important; 2. Mitigating Consequences Can Be Effective; 3. Performance Depends on Systems; 4. Physical Factors Are Important in Statistical Models; 5. Too Much and Too Little Conservatism Are Both Problems; 6. Value of Information Depends on Decision Making; and 7. Effective Communication Is Essential. While the potential for application of reliability methods in the future is unlimited, there are major needs related to each of these lessons that will have to be addressed in order to realize this potential.