A spatiotemporal deep learning method for excavation-induced wall deflections

Data-driven approaches such as neural networks are increasingly used for deep excavations due to the growing amount of available monitoring data in practical projects.However,most neural network models only use the data from a single monitoring point and neglect the spatial relationships between multiple monitoring points.Besides,most models lack flexibility in providing predictions for multiple days after monitoring activity.This study proposes a sequence-to-sequence(seq2seq)two-dimensional(2D)convolutional long short-term memory neural network(S2SCL2D)for predicting the spatiotemporal wall deflections induced by deep excavations.The model utilizes the data from all monitoring points on the entire wall and extracts spatiotemporal features from data by combining the 2D convolutional layers and long short-term memory(LSTM)layers.The S2SCL2D model achieves a long-term prediction of wall deflections through a recursive seq2seq structure.The excavation depth,which has a significant impact on wall deflections,is also considered using a feature fusion method.An excavation project in Hangzhou,China,is used to illustrate the proposed model.The results demonstrate that the S2SCL2D model has superior prediction accuracy and robustness than that of the LSTM and S2SCL1D(one-dimensional)models.The prediction model demonstrates a strong generalizability when applied to an adjacent excavation.Based on the long-term prediction results,practitioners can plan and allocate resources in advance to address the potential engineering issues.

Centrifuge modeling of a large-scale surcharge on adjacent foundation

This study investigates the ground and structural response of adjacent raft foundations induced by largescale surcharge by ore in soft soil areas through a 130g centrifuge modeling test with an innovative layered loading device.The prototype of the test is a coastal iron ore yard with a natural foundation of deep soft soil.Therefore,it is necessary to adopt some measures to reduce the influence of the large-scale surcharge on the adjacent raft foundation,such as installing stone columns for foundation treatment.Under an acceleration of 130 g,the model conducts similar simulations of iron ore,stone columns,and raft foundation structures.The tested soil mass has dimensions of 900 mm×700 mm×300 mm(lengthwidthdepth),which is remodeled from the soil extracted from the drilling holes.The test conditions are consistent with the actual engineering conditions and the effects of four-level loading conditions on the composite foundation of stone columns,unreinforced zone,and raft foundations are studied.An automatic layer-by-layer loading device was innovatively developed to simulate the loading process of actual engineering more realistically.The composite foundation of stone columns had a large settlement after the loading,forming an obvious settlement trough and causing the surface of the unreinforced zone to rise.The 12 m surcharge loading causes a horizontal displacement of 13.19 cm and a vertical settlement of 1.37 m in the raft foundation.The stone columns located on both sides of the unreinforced zone suffered significant shear damage at the sand-mud interface.Due to the reinforcement effect of stone columns,the sand layer below the top of the stone columns moves less.Meanwhile,the horizontal earth pressure in the raft foundation zone increases slowly.The stone columns will form new drainage channels and accelerate the dissipation of excess pore pressure.

Deep learning-based evaluation of factor of safety with confidence interval for tunnel deformation in spatially variable soil

The random finite difference method(RFDM) is a popular approach to quantitatively evaluate the influence of inherent spatial variability of soil on the deformation of embedded tunnels.However,the high computational cost is an ongoing challenge for its application in complex scenarios.To address this limitation,a deep learning-based method for efficient prediction of tunnel deformation in spatially variable soil is proposed.The proposed method uses one-dimensional convolutional neural network(CNN) to identify the pattern between random field input and factor of safety of tunnel deformation output.The mean squared error and correlation coefficient of the CNN model applied to the newly untrained dataset was less than 0.02 and larger than 0.96,respectively.It means that the trained CNN model can replace RFDM analysis for Monte Carlo simulations with a small but sufficient number of random field samples(about 40 samples for each case in this study).It is well known that the machine learning or deep learning model has a common limitation that the confidence of predicted result is unknown and only a deterministic outcome is given.This calls for an approach to gauge the model’s confidence interval.It is achieved by applying dropout to all layers of the original model to retrain the model and using the dropout technique when performing inference.The excellent agreement between the CNN model prediction and the RFDM calculated results demonstrated that the proposed deep learning-based method has potential for tunnel performance analysis in spatially variable soils.

Interpreting random fields through the U-Net architecture for failure mechanism and deformation predictions of geosystems

The representation of spatial variation of soil properties in the form of random fields permits advanced probabilistic assessment of slope stability.In many studies,the safety margin of the system is typically characterized by the term“probability of failure(Pfailure)”.As the intensity and spatial distribution of soil properties vary in different random field realizations,the failure mechanism and deformation field of a slope can vary as well.Not only can the location of the failure surfaces vary,but the mode of failure also changes.Such information is equally valuable to engineering practitioners.In this paper,two slope examples that are modified from a real case study are presented.The first example pertains to the stability analysis of a multi-layer-slope while the second example deals with the serviceability analysis of a multi-layer c-φslope.In addition,due to the large number of simulations needed to reveal the full picture of the failure mechanism,Convolutional Neural Networks(CNNs)that adopt a U-Net architecture is proposed to offer a soft computing strategy to facilitate the investigation.The spatial distribution of the failure surfaces,the statistics of the sliding volume,and the statistics of the deformation field are presented.The results also show that the proposed deep-learning model is effective in predicting the failure mechanism and deformation field of slopes in spatially variable soils;therefore encouraging probabilistic study of slopes in practical scenarios.