Interpretation of dam deformation and leakage with boosted regression trees

Predictive models are essential in dam safety assessment. They have been traditionally based on simple statistical tools such as the hydrostatic-season-time (HST) model. These tools are well known to have limitations in terms of accuracy and reliability. In the recent years, the examples of applicat...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Salazar González, Fernando, Toledo Municio, Miguel Ángel, Oñate Ibáñez de Navarra, Eugenio|||0000-0002-0804-7095, Suárez Arroyo, Benjamín
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/87614
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/87614
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.04.012
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Dam safety
Machine learning
Dam monitoring
Boosted regression trees
Preses (Enginyeria) -- Mesures de seguretat
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Enginyeria hidràulica, marítima i sanitària::Embassaments i preses
Descripción
Sumario:Predictive models are essential in dam safety assessment. They have been traditionally based on simple statistical tools such as the hydrostatic-season-time (HST) model. These tools are well known to have limitations in terms of accuracy and reliability. In the recent years, the examples of application of machine learning and related techniques are becoming more frequent as an alternative to HST. While they proved to feature higher flexibility and prediction accuracy, they are also more difficult to interpret. As a consequence, the vast majority of the research is limited to prediction accuracy estimation. In this work, one of the most popular machine learning techniques (boosted regression trees), was applied to model 8 radial displacements and 4 leakage flows at La Baells Dam. The possibilities of model interpretation were explored: the relative influence of each predictor was computed, and the partial dependence plots were obtained. Both results were analysed to draw conclusions on dam response to environmental variables, and its evolution over time. The results show that this technique can efficiently identify dam performance changes with higher flexibility and reliability than simple regression models.