Supporting Partner

Applications of Artificial Intelligence

and Machine Learning in Geotechnical
Engineering
Rodaina ABOUL HOSN
Associate Professor at ESTP-Paris

Sustainable Geotechnical Engineering Summit / 5th December 2022

About this Presentation

1. Overview of Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

2. AI in Geotechnical engineering - Examples of applications :

- Scale of Construction sites

- Laboratory scale
- Micro - scale

3. Benefits and Limitations of AI

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 Overview of AI and ML

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Overview of AI and ML
What exactly is AI?

AI is a computational technique that attempts to mimic, in a very simplistic way, the

human cognition ability (e.g. brain, genes, nerve system) to think and learn on its own.

It is a simulation of human intelligence into machines to do tasks that we would

normally rely on humans to perform.

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Overview of AI and ML
What exactly is AI?

AI models are data-driven models which means that they rely on the data alone to
determine the structure of a phenomenon (or system) without the need for
assumptions or simplifications about that system, which is in contrast to most
physically-based modelling techniques.

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Overview of AI and ML
AI and ML

AI refers to the capability of a machine to

perform a certain behavior; while ML is the
algorithm that learns patterns from datasets to
predict future outcomes, recognize patterns, or
suggest different classes to the data.

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Overview of AI and ML
Major AI Techniques

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AI in Geotechnical Engineering

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 AI in Geotechnical Engineering

The use of different AI techniques in some applications in geotechnical engineering

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Beghbani, A., Choudhury, T., Costa, S., Reiner, J. (2022). “Application of artificial intelligence in geotechnical engineering: A state-of-the-art review” Earth-Science Reviews 228,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.103991.
AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Artificial Neural Networks

Concept

©book: Memristor and Memristive Neural Networks

©Medium

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 AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)

Concept

©book: Memristor and Memristive Neural Networks

Perceptron
𝑥1
𝑤1
𝑛
𝑥2 𝑤2 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 𝑤𝑖 𝑦
+θj 𝑓 ෍ 𝑥𝑖 𝑤𝑖 +θj
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...

𝑖=1
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𝑤𝑛 𝑤𝑖 : weights www.thebig5.ae
𝑥𝑛 Θj : bias
 Examples of Applications:
Scale of Construction Sites

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 AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications

Dam Safety
The Diablo Dam was built in 1936 along the Skagit River in
©hdrinc.com northwestern Washington.

To ensure the dam’s safety, a digital twin (virtual replica of the

dam) was created merging real data obtained with embedded
sensor network and incorporating machine learning and
artificial intelligence to perform predictive analysis and
determine how asset and geotechnical conditions would
https://www.hdrinc.com/insights/digital-twin-diablo-dam-comes-life
change with time (such as natural shifting, erosion of the
surrounding soil, automatically identify cracks and spalls)
allowing operators to take corrective actions to immediately
improve their targeted maintenance scheduling and help
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AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications

Slope Stability Safety on Construction Sites

©blog.strayos.com

©cherrystdwfi.com.hk

- Real time monitoring of the site

- Plan ahead for optimum slopes
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- Identify any misuse of personal protective equipment (e.g. safety helmet or vest) #THEBIG5EXHIBITION
- When a dangerous act is predicted, the system will alert the safety officer and inspector to
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avoid injuries
 AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications

Prediction of the load-settlement curve of Driven Piles

Several in-situ full-scale pile load tests, as well as

cone penetration test (CPT) data were used to
develop AI model.

The tests were conducted on sites of different soil

types and geotechnical conditions, ranging from
cohesive clays to cohesionless sands including
layered soils

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Shahin, M. A. (2014). “Load-settlement modelling of axially loaded drilled shafts using CPT-based recurrent neural networks.” International Journal
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of Geomechanics, ASCE, 14(6),
06014012(1-7).
Shahin, M. A. (2014). “Load-settlement modelling of axially loaded steel driven piles using CPT-based recurrent neural networks.” Soils and Foundations, 54(3), 515-522.
AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications

Prediction of the load-settlement curve of Driven Piles

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 AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications

Prediction of the load-settlement curve of Driven Piles

Performance measure Training Validation

Coefficient of correlation, r 0.997 0.994
Organized by Coefficient of Determination, R2 0.993 0.974
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Shahin, M. A. (2014). “Load-settlement modelling of axially loaded drilled shafts using CPT-based recurrent neural networks.” International Journal
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of Geomechanics, ASCE, 14(6),
06014012(1-7).
Shahin, M. A. (2014). “Load-settlement modelling of axially loaded steel driven piles using CPT-based recurrent neural networks.” Soils and Foundations, 54(3), 515-522.
AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Prediction of the load-settlement curve of Driven Piles
How engineers can use the developed AI model?
AI models can be used to establish a relationship between inputs and outputs which can be implemented in a
simple user-friendly application.

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 Examples of Applications:
Laboratory Scale

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AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Prediction of the Mechanical behavior of Railway Ballast

AI Model Features:

D50 : diameter at which 50% of the specimens pass

through the sieve
Cu : coefficient of uniformity
Diameter = 300 mm Cc : coefficient of curvature
Large-scale triaxial
apparatus Height = 600 mm e: void ratio
ϒ : bulk unit weight (kN/m3)
𝜎3 : confining pressure
εi : axial strain (%)
Δεi : axial strain increment (%)
qi : deviator stress (kPa)
εv,i : volumetric strain (%)
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Shahin, M. A., Indraratna, B. (2006). “Modeling the mechanical behaviour of railway ballast using artificial neural networks”, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 43: 1144-1152.
AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Prediction of the Mechanical behavior of Railway Ballast

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Shahin, M. A., Indraratna, B. (2006). “Modeling the mechanical behaviour of railway ballast using artificial neural networks”,
Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 43: 1144-1152.
 Examples of Applications:
Micro - Scale

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AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Fabric and Effective Stress Distribution in Internally Unstable Soils

The collapse of Teton dam (Wikipedia)

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Illustration of the suffusion process (Sibille (2016)).
AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Fabric and Effective Stress Distribution in Internally Unstable Soils

Skempton and Brogan (1994) proposed that a stress-

reduction factor, α, can be defined as the proportion
of the overburden acting on the loose fraction in the
no flow condition:
′
𝜎𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒 = 𝛼 𝜎′

where σ’fine is the effective stress transferred by the

finer fraction; σ’ overburden effective stress; and α is
stress-reduction factor.

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Different fabric cases (Shire et al. (2014)) www.thebig5.ae
AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Fabric and Effective Stress Distribution in Internally Unstable Soils

Discrete element modeling AI model

𝑫′𝟏𝟓
𝟏
𝒅′𝟖𝟓
𝟓
𝑭𝑪 𝟐
𝟕 𝜶
𝒆 𝟑 𝟔 Output Layer

𝑮 𝟒 Hidden Layer

Input Layer

Model features:

D’15/d’85: D’ represents the coarse fraction and

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FC : Fines content (%) www.thebig5.ae
G : Gap ratio
e : Void ratio
AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Fabric and Effective Stress Distribution in Internally Unstable Soils

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Performance measures Training Validation
Coefficient of correlation, r 0.924 0.917 #THEBIG5EXHIBITION
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Coefficient of Determination, R2 0.853 0.852
AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Fabric and Effective Stress Distribution in Internally Unstable Soils

𝑫′𝟏𝟓
𝟏
𝒅′𝟖𝟓 𝜶 = 𝟓. 𝟒𝟔 + 𝟒. 𝟒𝟖𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒉 𝑯𝟏 + 𝟑. 𝟖𝟐𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒉 𝑯𝟐
𝟓
𝑭𝑪 𝟐 𝑫′𝟏𝟓
𝟕 𝜶 𝑯𝟏 = −𝟎. 𝟎𝟖 − 𝟗. 𝟔 + 𝟎. 𝟕𝟏𝑭𝑪 − 𝟏. 𝟎𝟕𝒆 + 𝟔. 𝟏𝟔𝑮
𝒅′𝟖𝟓
𝒆 𝟑 𝟔 Output Layer
𝑫′𝟏𝟓
𝑯𝟐 = −𝟏. 𝟖𝟏 − 𝟑. 𝟔𝟐 ′ + 𝟕. 𝟕𝟑𝑭𝑪 − 𝟖. 𝟑𝟔𝒆 + 𝟐. 𝟎𝟓𝑮
Hidden Layer
𝒅𝟖𝟓
𝑮 𝟒

Input Layer

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AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Fabric and Effective Stress Distribution in Internally Unstable Soils

Sensitivity analysis

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AI in Geotechnical Engineering
Examples of Applications
Fabric and Effective Stress Distribution in Internally Unstable Soils
Sensitivity analysis

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The sensitivity analysis shows that the model is robust and able to reflect the role of important #THEBIG5EXHIBITION
parameters compared to the available geotechnical knowledge www.thebig5.ae
 Benefits and Limitations of AI

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Benefits and Limitations of AI
Benefits of AI

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Benefits and Challenges of AI
Limitations and Challenges

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Acknowledgements

Prof. Mohamed Shahin (Curtin University, Australia)

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THANK YOU