A NEUROFUZZY TECHNIQUE TO PREDICT SEISMIC LIQUEFACTION POTENTIAL OF SOILS

Abstract

Liquefaction potential is a scientific assessment parameter to assess liq- uefaction of medium to fine grained cohesion-less soil due to earthquake shaking. In this paper alternative liquefaction potential prediction models have been developed using adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and multiple linear regression (MLR) technique. Geological survey of the study area was performed and forty lo- cations were identified to perform standard penetration test (SPT). Disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected from the borehole to execute the laboratory tests. The bore-log datasets were used for determining liquefaction potential of the cohesion-less soils. The analytical approach by Idriss and Boulanger (I & B) has been applied initially to estimate liquefaction potential of soil on the basis of stan- dard penetration test datasets obtained from the field investigations. To develop the ANFIS models 101 datasets were collected and incorporated for the develop- ment of fuzzy neural network models. Multiple linear regression (MLR) models have also been developed and the results were compared with neuro-fuzzy models. Based on obtained results it can be stated that the developed adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system models have better prediction ability to predict liquefaction po- tential with satisfactory level of confidence and can be used as an alternative tool.