An examination of the use of Geotechnical BIM to provide value engineering solutions for coastal infrastructure.

The digitisation of construction is taking root as Building Information Modelling is becoming more prevalent across the industry. From an Irish context, the adoption rate of BIM has been slow; nationally its advantages and merits have been welcomed and the appropriate government support is either available, soon to be implemented or in the early conceptual stage. Within the Irish governments Project Ireland 2040 framework there are significant infrastructure developments looming ahead, in particular regarding ports and harbours. The importance of this type of infrastructure is only further compounded due to the UK’s departure from the EU and the need for creating robust trade infrastructure. This research explores Geotechnical BIM as a crucial tool to be utilised but yet to be recognised in the development of coastal infrastructure. Suffice to say Coastal Infrastructure such as Harbours or Tidal Defences have long projected lifespans. Due to their function, they have to endure severe environmental loading as well as the geological complexities at where they interface with the natural environment. The primary purpose of this research is to offer guidance and awareness to the wider AEC industry through an investigation of current literature, emphasising the importance of Geotechnical BIM as a value engineering tool for coastal infrastructure. The findings in this section point to an urgent need of a national mandate to propel BIM in Ireland and examines the current status of Geotechnical BIM. Secondly it aims to explore the application of Geotechnical BIM through a case study where BIM in principle has been applied to the geotechnical design. The findings in this section examined significant capital savings in the range of 40%. Finally a survey was then carried out to gather data from industry providing insight on how other disciplines find Geotechnical BIM within the wider BIM process and derive recommendations as to better integrate Geotechnical BIM. The results indicate that Geotechnical BIM is welcomed however there are concerns related to cost and risk. The Author concludes that the advantages outweigh the concerns shared in addition to the limitations of the traditional process and suggests the need for a specific level of model detail identifier for Geotechnical models to improve communication and reduce risk

Rock mass classification for predicting environmental impact of blasting on tropically weathered rock

Tropical climate and post tectonic impact on the rock mass cause severe and deep weathering in complex rock formations. The uniqueness of tropical influence on the geoengineering properties of rock mass leads to significant effects on blast performance especially in the developmental stage. Different rock types such as limestone and granite exhibit different weathering effects which require special attention for classifying rock mass for blastability purpose. Rock mass classification systems have been implemented for last century for various applications to simplify complexity of rock mass. Several research studies have been carried out on rock mass and material properties for five classes of weathered rock- fresh, slightly, moderately, highly and completely weathered rock. There is wide variation in rock mass properties- heterogeneity and strength of weathered rocks in different weathering zones which cause environmental effects due to blasting. Several researchers have developed different techniques for prediction of air overpressure (AOp), peak particle velocity (PPV) and flyrock primarily for production blast. These techniques may not be suitable for prediction of blast performance in development benches in tropically weathered rock mass. In this research, blast monitoring program were carried out from a limestone quarry and two granite quarries. Due to different nature of properties, tropically weathered rock mass was classified as massive, blocky and fractured rock for simpler evaluation of development blast performance. Weathering Index (WI) is introduced based on porosity, water absorption and Point Load Index (PLI) strength properties of rock. Weathering index, porosity index, water absorption index and point load index ratio showed decreasing trend from massive to fractured tropically weathered rock. On the other hand, Block Weathering Index (BWI) was developed based on hypothetical values of exploration data and computational model. Ten blasting data sets were collected for analysis with blasting data varying from 105 to 166 per data set for AOp, PPV and flyrock. For granite, one data set each was analyzed for AOp and PPV and balance five data sets were analyzed for flyrock in granite by variation in input parameters. For prediction of blasting performance, varied techniques such as empirical equations, multivariable regression analysis (MVRA), hypothetical model, computational techniques (artificial intelligence-AI, machine learning- ML) and graphical charts. Measured values of blast performance was also compared with prediction techniques used by previous researchers. Blastability Index (BI), powder factor, WI are found suitable for prediction of all blast performance. Maximum charge per delay, distance of monitoring point are found to be critical factors for prediction of AOp and PPV. Stiffness ratio is found to be a crucial factor for flyrock especially during developmental blast. Empirical equations developed for prediction of PPV in fractured, blocky, and massive limestone showed R2 (0.82, 0.54, and 0.23) respectively confirming that there is an impact of weathering on blasting performance. Best fit equation was developed with multivariable regression analysis (MVRA) with measured blast performance values and input parameters. Prediction of flyrock for granite with MVRA for massive, blocky and fractured demonstrated R2 (0.8843, 0.86, 0.9782) respectively. WI and BWI were interchangeably used and results showed comparable results. For limestone, AOp analysed with model PSO-ANN showed R2(0.961); PPV evaluated with model FA-ANN produced R2 (0.966). For flyrock in granite with prediction model GWO-ANFIS showed R2 (1) The same data set was analysed by replacing WI with BWI showed equivalent results. Model ANFIS produced R2 (1). It is found the best performing models were PSO-ANN for AOp, FA-ANN for PPV and GWO-ANFIS for flyrock. Prediction charts were developed for AOp, PPV and flyrock for simple in use by site personnel. Blastability index and weathering index showed variation with reclassified weathering zones – massive, blocky and fractured and they are useful input parameters for prediction of blast performance in tropically weathered rock

Recent tendencies in the use of optimization techniques in geotechnics:a review

The use of optimization methods in geotechnics dates back to the 1950s. They were used in slope stability analysis (Bishop) and evolved to a wide range of applications in ground engineering. We present here a non-exhaustive review of recent publications that relate to the use of different optimization techniques in geotechnical engineering. Metaheuristic methods are present in almost all the problems in geotechnics that deal with optimization. In a number of cases, they are used as single techniques, in others in combination with other approaches, and in a number of situations as hybrids. Different results are discussed showing the advantages and issues of the techniques used. Computational time is one of the issues, as well as the assumptions those methods are based on. The article can be read as an update regarding the recent tendencies in the use of optimization techniques in geotechnics

Évaluation de la fragilité sismique des barrages poids en utilisant des fonctions multivariées basées sur des méta-modèles

Les conséquences de la rupture d’un barrage peuvent être considérables, en termes de pertes humaines, économiques et environnementales. De plus, la sécurité des barrages et des aménagements hydroélectriques est une préoccupation majeure au Québec étant donné que plus de la moitié de la population vit dans des zones potentiellement inondables. Il y a environ 933 grands barrages au Canada et 333 ou un peu plus sont situés au Québec. Parmi eux, beaucoup d’entre eux ont été construits il y a plus de 50 ans. Au cours de cette période, d’importants progrès ont été réalisés dans les méthodes d’évaluation des risques naturels. Bien que la défaillance totale d’un barrage en béton à la suite d’un tremblement de terre soit rare, les tremblements de terre sont une cause majeure de dommages à différents degrés de gravité. Par conséquent, le vieillissement et ses problèmes associés, combiné aux nouvelles méthodes d’estimation des charges sismiques ont entraîné la nécessité de revoir et d’améliorer les méthodes d’analyse sismique pour les barrages. Au cours des dernières décennies, les outils probabilistes sont devenus de plus en plus populaires pour l’évaluation sismique des barrages. Cependant, de telles méthodes nécessitent souvent un grand nombre d’analyses dynamiques non linéaires de modèles complexes par éléments finis. Par conséquent, le compromis entre l’exactitude du modèle numérique et la quantité de calcul rend ce type d’analyse non viable. Toutefois, l’évaluation sismique des barrages peut être améliorée en incluant les incertitudes liées aux paramètres sismiques et aux paramètres de modélisation et accélérée en réduisant l’importante quantité de temps de calcul avec l’utilisation de techniques d’apprentissage automatique pour développer des modèles de substitution ou des méta-modèles qui serviront prédire la réponse du barrage. L’objectif principal de la recherche est de mettre au point une méthode d’évaluation de la sécurité sismique des structures de type barrage-poids grâce à une analyse de fragilité, effectuée avec la mise en oeuvre de méta-modèles et en identifiant correctement le scénario sismique susceptible d’être présent sur le site du barrage. La méthodologie est appliquée à un barrage-poids situé dans l’est du Canada, dont la fragilité est évaluée par comparaison avec les études antérieures et directives de sécurité actuelles. On observe que la procédure plus précise présentée ici pour choisir les accélérogrammes produit des estimations moins conservatrices de la fragilité pour le barrage. Nous avons trouvé que la surface de réponse polynomiale de 4ème ordre est le méta-modèle le plus performant, et elle a été utilisée pour générer des fonctions de fragilité multivariées pour tenir compte de la variation des paramètres les plus critiques du modèle influençant la fragilité sismique du barrage. A partir de l’analyse de ces modèles, des recommandations pratiques de conception ont pu être formulées et il a été observé que le paramètre de modélisation affectant le plus l’analyse de la fragilité est la cohésion entre le béton et la roche.Abstract: The consequences of dam failure can be substantial, in terms of casualties, economic and environmental damage. Moreover, the safety of dams and hydroelectric developments is a major concern in Quebec given that over half the population lives in potential flood zone. There are about 933 large dams in Canada and 333 or slightly more are located in Quebec. Among them, many have been built more than 50 years ago. During that time, important advances in the methodologies for evaluating the natural hazards have been made. Although total failure of a concrete dam following an earthquake is rare, earthquakes are a major cause of damage at different degrees of severity. Consequently, the combination ageing and its associated problems with new methods for estimating seismic loads, have resulted in the need to review and upgrade the methods of seismic analysis for dams. In recent decades, probabilistic-based tools, have become increasingly popular for the seismic assessment of dams. However, such methods often require a large number of nonlinear dynamic analysis of complex finite element models. As a result the trade-off between the accuracy of the numerical model and the computational burden render unviable this type of analysis. However, the seismic assessment of dams can be enhanced by including seismic and modeling parameters uncertainties and expedited by reducing the substantial computational time with the use of machine learning techniques to develop surrogate or meta-models to predict the response of the dam. The proposed research addresses direct gaps in the seismic performance assessment of dams, while also shedding new light on the use of machine learning to support fragility modeling of complex systems like dams. Accordingly, the main objective of this research was to develop a method for assessing the seismic safety of gravity dam-type structures through a fragility analysis, conducted with the implementation of meta-models and by properly identifying the seismic scenario likely to be present at the dam site. The methodology is applied to a case study gravity dam located in eastern Canada, whose fragility is assessed through comparison with previous studies and current safety guidelines. It is observed that the more accurate procedure presented herein to select ground motions produces less conservative fragility estimates for the case study dam. Likewise, the 4th order polynomial response surface came up as the best performing meta-model, and it was used to generate multivariate fragility functions to account for the most critical model parameter variation influencing the dam seismic fragility. From the analysis of these models, practical design recommendations could be formulated and it was observed that the modelling parameter affecting the fragility analysis the most was the concrete–rock cohesion

Fuzzy Sets Applications in Civil Engineering Basic Areas

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings. This paper presents some Fuzzy Logic (FL) applications in civil engeering discipline and shows the potential of facilities of FL in this area. The potential role of fuzzy sets in analysing system and human uncertainty is investigated in the paper. The main finding of this inquiry is FL applications used in different areas of civil engeering discipline with success. Once developed, the fuzzy logic models can be used for further monitoring activities, as a management tool

Deformation forecasting of a hydropower dam by hybridizing a long short-term memory deep learning network with the coronavirus optimization algorithm

The safety operation and management of hydropower dam play a critical role in social-economic development and ensure people’s safety in many countries; therefore, modeling and forecasting the hydropower dam’s deformations with high accuracy is crucial. This research aims to propose and validate a new model based on deep learning long short-term memory (LSTM) and the coronavirus optimization algorithm (CVOA), named CVOA-LSTM, for forecasting the defor mations of the hydropower dam. The second-largest hydropower dam of Viet nam, located in the Hoa Binh province, is focused. Herein, we used the LSTM to establish the deformation model, whereas the CVOA was utilized to opti mize the three parameters of the LSTM, the number of hidden layers, the learn ing rate, and the dropout. The efficacy of the proposed CVOA-LSTM model is assessed by comparing its forecasting performance with state-of-the-art bench marks, sequential minimal optimization for support vector regression, Gaussian process, M5’ model tree, multilayer perceptron neural network, reduced error pruning tree, random tree, random forest, and radial basis function neural net work. The result shows that the proposed CVOA-LSTM model has high fore casting capability (R2 = 0.874, root mean square error = 0.34, mean absolute error = 0.23) and outperforms the benchmarks. We conclude that CVOA-LSTM is a new tool that can be considered to forecast the hydropower dam’s deforma tions.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades PID2020-117954RB-C2

Dam Safety. Overtopping and Geostructural Risks

This reprintshows recent advances in dam safety related to overtopping and the prevention, detection, and risk assessment of geostructural risks. Related to overtopping, the issues treated are: the throughflow and failure process of rockfill dams; the protection of embankment dams against overtopping by means of a rockfill toe or wedge-shaped blocks; and the protection of concrete dams with highly convergent chutes. In the area of geostructural threats, the detection of anomalies in dam behavior from monitoring data using a combination of machine learning techniques, the numerical modeling of seismic behavior of concrete dams, and the determination of the impact area downstream of ski-jump spillways are also studied and discussed. In relation to risk assessment, three chapters deal with the development of fragility curves for dikes and dams in relation to various failure mechanisms

Coastal Geohazard and Offshore Geotechnics

With rapid developments being made in the exploration of marine resources, coastal geohazard and offshore geotechnics have attracted a great deal of attention from coastal geotechnical engineers, with significant progress being made in recent years. Due to the complicated nature of marine environmnets, there are numerous natural marine geohazard preset throughout the world’s marine areas, e.g., the South China Sea. In addition, damage to offshore infrastructure (e.g., monopiles, bridge piers, etc.) and their supporting installations (pipelines, power transmission cables, etc.) has occurred in the last decades. A better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms and soil behavior of the seabed in marine environments will help engineers in the design and planning processes of coastal geotechnical engineering projects. The purpose of this book is to present the recent advances made in the field of coastal geohazards and offshore geotechnics. The book will provide researchers with information reagrding the recent developments in the field, and possible future developments. The book is composed of eighteen papers, covering three main themes: (1) the mechanisms of fluid–seabed interactions and the instability associated with seabeds when they are under dynamic loading (papers 1–5); (2) evaluation of the stability of marine infrastructure, including pipelines (papers 6–8), piled foundation and bridge piers (papers 9–12), submarine tunnels (paper 13), and other supported foundations (paper 14); and (3) coastal geohazards, including submarine landslides and slope stability (papers 15–16) and other geohazard issues (papers 17–18). The editors hope that this book will functoin as a guide for researchers, scientists, and scholars, as well as practitioners of coastal and offshore engineering

An overview of a leader journal in the field of transport: a bibliometric analysis of “Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering” from 2000 to 2019

Computer-Aided Civil And Infrastructure Engineering (CACAIE) is an international journal, and the first documents was published from 1980. This article is to make an overview based on bibliometric analysis to celebrate the 35th anniversary of CACAIE till 2019. At present, 1045 publications can be indexed in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science (WoS) from 2000 to 2019, and we explore the characteristics of these publications by bibliometric methods and tools (VOSviewer and CiteSpace). First, the fundamental information of publications is given with the help of some bibliometric indicators, such as the number of citations and h-index. According to high-citing and high-cited publications, we analyse that who pays closer attention to the journal and what the journal most focuses on considering sources, countries/regions, institutions and authors. After that, the influential countries/regions and references are presented, and collaboration networks are given to show the relationship among countries/regions, institutions and authors. In order to understand the development trends and hot topics, co-occurrence analysis and timeline view of keywords are made to be visual. In addition, publications in four fields – Construction & Building Technology; Engineering, Civil; Transportation Science & Technology; Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications – that CACAIE refers are summarized, and further discussions are made for the journal and scholars. Finally, some main findings are concluded according to all analysis. This article provides a certain reference for scholars and journals to further research and promote the scientific-technological progress. First published online 6 January 202

Geotechnical Engineering for the Preservation of Monuments and Historic Sites III

The conservation of monuments and historic sites is one of the most challenging problems facing modern civilization. It involves, in inextricable patterns, factors belonging to different fields (cultural, humanistic, social, technical, economical, administrative) and the requirements of safety and use appear to be (or often are) in conflict with the respect of the integrity of the monuments. The complexity of the topic is such that a shared framework of reference is still lacking among art historians, architects, structural and geotechnical engineers. The complexity of the subject is such that a shared frame of reference is still lacking among art historians, architects, architectural and geotechnical engineers. And while there are exemplary cases of an integral approach to each building element with its static and architectural function, as a material witness to the culture and construction techniques of the original historical period, there are still examples of uncritical reliance on modern technology leading to the substitution from earlier structures to new ones, preserving only the iconic look of the original monument. Geotechnical Engineering for the Preservation of Monuments and Historic Sites III collects the contributions to the eponymous 3rd International ISSMGE TC301 Symposium (Naples, Italy, 22-24 June 2022). The papers cover a wide range of topics, which include: 　 - Principles of conservation, maintenance strategies, case histories - The knowledge: investigations and monitoring - Seismic risk, site effects, soil structure interaction - Effects of urban development and tunnelling on built heritage - Preservation of diffuse heritage: soil instability, subsidence, environmental damages The present volume aims at geotechnical engineers and academics involved in the preservation of monuments and historic sites worldwide