Model tree approach for prediction of pile groups scour due to waves

Abstract

Scour aroundpilescouldendangerthestabilityofthestructuresplacedonthem.Hence,anaccurate estimationofthescourdeptharoundpilesisveryimportantincoastalandmarineengineering.Dueto the complexinteractionbetweenthewave,seabedandpilegroup;predictionofthescourdepthisnot an easytaskandtheavailableempiricalformulashavelimitedaccuracy.Recently,softcomputing methodssuchasArtificialNeuralNetworks(ANNs)andSupportVectorMachines(SVMs)havebeen used forthepredictionofthescourdepth.However,thesemethodsdonotgiveenoughinsightabout the processandarenotaseasytouseastheempiricalequations.Inthisstudy,newformulasaregiven that areeasytouse,accurateandphysicallysound.Availableempiricalequationsforestimatingthe pile groupscourdepthsuchasthoseof Sumer etal.(1992) and BayramandLarson(2000), areless accuratecomparedtothegivenequations.Theseequationsareasaccurateasothersoftcomputing methodssuchasANNandSVM.Moreover,inthisstudy,safetyfactorsaregivenfordifferentlevelsof acceptablerisks,whichcanbesousefulforengineers.