Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies ISSN 1583-1078 Issue 30, January-June 2017 p. 127-148 127 Engineering, Environment Reliability based analysis of foundation settlement Bunyamin Anigilaje SALAHUDEEN *1 and Jibrin Muhammed KAURA 2 1 Samaru College of Agriculture, Division of Agricultural Colleges, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria 2 Department of Civil Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria Emails: * basalahudeen@gmail.com; kaurajm@yahoo.com * Corresponding Author: +2348058565650 Received: July 21, 2016 / Accepted: June 14, 2017 / Published: June 30, 2017 Abstract This research was aimed at the development of a method that will assist in the process of calibration of load and resistance factors for service limit state with focus on the soils of the South-East zone of Nigeria based on standard penetration test (SPT) results. Reliability analysis, expressed in the form of reliability index (β) and probability of failure (Pf) were performed for foundation settlement using First Order Reliability Method (FORM) in MATLAB. The footings were designed for a 25 mm allowable settlement value as recommended in Eurocode 7 for serviceability limit state (SLS) design which is a conventional approach. Reliability indices were calculated based on the Burland and Burbidge foundation settlement prediction method. Results of the reliability analysis show that, as the variability of geotechnical properties at a site increases, larger values of settlement were obtained with a higher probability of occurrence. Sensitivity study indicated that the applied foundation pressure and coefficient of variation (COV) of SPT N-value significantly affected the magnitude of foundation settlements. Keywords Reliability-based design; First order reliability method; Foundation settlement; Reliability analysis; Standard penetration test Introduction