An empirical comparison of machine learning techniques for dam behaviour modelling

Predictive models are essential in dam safety assessment. Both deterministic and statistical models applied in the day-to-day practice have demonstrated to be useful, although they show relevant limitations at the same time. On another note, powerful learning algorithms have been developed in the fi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Salazar González, Fernando, Toledo Municio, Miguel Ángel, Oñate Ibáñez de Navarra, Eugenio|||0000-0002-0804-7095, Morán Moya, Rafael
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2015
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:2117/76195
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/76195
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.strusafe.2015.05.001
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Dam safety
Neural networks (Computer science)
Machine learning
Dam monitoring
Boosted regression trees
Neural networks
Random forests
MARS
Support vector machines
Leakage flow
Preses (Enginyeria) -- Mesures de seguretat
Aprenentatge automàtic
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Aprenentatge automàtic
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. Both deterministic and statistical models applied in the day-to-day practice have demonstrated to be useful, although they show relevant limitations at the same time. On another note, powerful learning algorithms have been developed in the field of machine learning (ML), which have been applied to solve practical problems. The work aims at testing the prediction capability of some state-of-the-art algorithms to model dam behaviour, in terms of displacements and leakage. Models based on random forests (RF), boosted regression trees (BRT), neural networks (NN), support vector machines (SVM) and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) are fitted to predict 14 target variables. Prediction accuracy is compared with the conventional statistical model, which shows poorer performance on average. BRT models stand out as the most accurate overall, followed by NN and RF. It was also verified that the model fit can be improved by removing the records of the first years of dam functioning from the training set.