ABSTRACT
The geotechnical engineer processes testing data to obtain parameters for characterization and design. In practice, information is never sufficient in quantity, nor entirely precise and accurate. Geomaterials, moreover, are naturally complex and variable at all scales, ranging from the microstructure to regional scale. The competent engineer must account for this lack of uniformity and information while parameterizing and modeling the physical world. The level of explicitness with which this occurs depends upon the selected approach. In deterministic approaches, variability is not addressed explicitly as in uncertaintybased approaches.
