A spreadsheet-based decision support system for selection of optimal soil liquefaction mitigation technique

Abstract

Improving constructability on soils susceptible to seismic induced liquefaction requires deployment of soil liquefaction mitigation technique (SLMT). However, selecting optimal SLMT with respect to applicable site and project constraints is an intricate task. This paper proposes a spreadsheet-based decision support system (SDSS) developed for retrieving set of specific mitigation requirements from the user and prescribe an optimal SLMT from a choice of multiple SLMT. This is achieved by extracting hindsight and data analytics on 14 SLMT(s) into a knowledge-based shell and processing it by a ‘Hybridized multi-criteria optimization’ algorithm. The competence of SDSS was assessed by analysing five case histories and then adjudging its decision analytics with respect to a devised acceptance criteria. As per the criteria, the optimal SLMT deduced for each case history was found to be rational on the grounds of feasibility and optimality. Hence, the developed SDSS could be foreseen as a novel, structured and a convenient proposition for optimal selection of soil liquefaction mitigation technique.