Selection of Optimized Retaining Wall Technique Using Self-Organizing Maps

Construction projects in urban areas tend to be associated with high-rise buildings and are of very large-scales; hence, the importance of a project’s underground construction work is significant. In this study, a rational model based on machine learning (ML) was developed. ML algorithms are program...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Young-Su Kim, U-Yeol Park, Seoung-Wook Whang, Dong-Joon Ahn, Sangyong Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
Series:Sustainability
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1328
Description
Summary:Construction projects in urban areas tend to be associated with high-rise buildings and are of very large-scales; hence, the importance of a project’s underground construction work is significant. In this study, a rational model based on machine learning (ML) was developed. ML algorithms are programs that can learn from data and improve from experience without human intervention. In this study, self-organizing maps (SOMs) were utilized. An SOM is an alternative to existing ML methods and involves a subjective decision-making process because a developed model is used for data training to classify and effectively recognize patterns embedded in the input data space. In addition, unlike existing methods, the SOM can easily create a feature map by mapping multidimensional data to simple two-dimensional data. The objective of this study is to develop an SOM model as a decision-making approach for selecting a retaining wall technique. N-fold cross-validation was adopted to validate the accuracy of the SOM model and evaluate its reliability. The findings are useful for decision-making in selecting a retaining wall method, as demonstrated in this study. The maximum accuracy of the SOM was 81.5%, and the average accuracy was 79.8%.
ISSN:2071-1050