Rockfill material uncertainty inversion analysis of concrete-faced rockfill dams using stacking ensemble strategy and Jaya optimizer

Abstract

Numerical simulation of concrete-faced rockfill dams (CFRDs) considering the spatial variability of rockfill has become a popular research topic in recent years. In order to determine uncertain rockfill properties efficiently and reliably, this study developed an uncertainty inversion analysis method for rockfill material parameters using the stacking ensemble strategy and Jaya optimizer. The comprehensive implementation process of the proposed model was described with an illustrative CFRD example. First, the surrogate model method using the stacking ensemble algorithm was used to conduct the Monte Carlo stochastic finite element calculations with reduced computational cost and improved accuracy. Afterwards, the Jaya algorithm was used to inversely calculate the combination of the coefficient of variation of rockfill material parameters. This optimizer obtained higher accuracy and more significant uncertainty reduction than traditional optimizers. Overall, the developed model effectively identified the random parameters of rockfill materials. This study provided scientific references for uncertainty analysis of CFRDs. In addition, the proposed method can be applied to other similar engineering structures.