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Prediction of Slope Stability Using Artificial Neural Network
Prediction of Slope Stability Using Artificial Neural Network
DOI 10.1007/s12517-009-0035-3
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Received: 30 October 2008 / Accepted: 15 January 2009 / Published online: 5 February 2009
# Saudi Society for Geosciences 2009
A. J. Choobbasti : F. Farrokhzad : A. Barari (*) Erosion of a slope by a river or other natural agent This
Department of Civil Engineering,
erosion can take place at the toe of the slope or along a
Babol University of Technology,
Babol, Mazandaran, Iran weaker layer in it. It can happen due to the effect of a tidal
e-mail: amin78404@yahoo.com current in a river involving sediment transport. The process
312 Arab J Geosci (2009) 2:311–319
where w is the weight of the block ABCD, α is the average Indicating the level of the phreatic surface in terms of the
slope of the block, and γ is the volumetric weight of the vertical distance h above the bottom of the block as shown
soil. Assuming that the lateral forces R along sides AB and in (Fig. 3) and assuming that the hydrostatic potential is
DC counteract each other, the projections of w in the normal to the slope, then the relationships between the pore
direction of shear plane and perpendicular to that must be in water pressure u, the unit weight of water γw, the equivalent
height of water h, and the angle of the slope α can be
written as
u ¼ h cos2 a g w : ð7Þ
By substituting Eqs. 7 and 3 into Eq. 6, the factor of
safety can be calculated by
ðg:z:cosa h: cos2 a: g w Þ tanf'
F¼ : ð8Þ
g:z:sina
If failure occurs, then this factor of safety is equal to 1.
In such case, the volumetric weight of the landslide block
can be calculated by the following equation:
h: cos2 a:tanf': g w
g¼ : ð9Þ
z:ðcosa:tanf' sinaÞ
Discussing landslides as drained phenomenon in satu-
rated soils and rocks, owing to progressive failure and low
residual strength, existing landslides can continue to slip at
an average shear stress considerably less than the drained
peak strength of the soil or rock as measured by
Fig. 3 A simple case of slope where the slip surface is parallel to conventional drained tests (such as triaxial or direct shear
surface of an infinite slope tests). It is widely understood that slope stability depends
314 Arab J Geosci (2009) 2:311–319
Fig. 4 Circular slip surface forces Fig. 6 Structure of a three-layer artificial neural network
Arab J Geosci (2009) 2:311–319 315
In a neural network, the number of hidden layer neurons Back propagation is the best known training algorithm for
is usually determined from trial and error approach. But neural networks and still one of the most useful (Gupta et al.
if the number of neurons in the hidden layer is too large, 2003). It has lower memory requirements than most
the network will get an overfit, i.e., the network will algorithms and usually reaches an acceptable error level
have problem in generalization. The training set of data quite quickly, although it can then be very slow to converge
will be memorized and thus making the network useless properly on an error minimum. It is most appropriate for
on test data. In order to design neural network, several training multilayer perceptrons.
architectures of ANN models were examined by varying On each epoch, the entire training set is fed through the
the number of hidden layers and the number of neurons network and used to adjust the network weights and
in each hidden layer and the training function parameters thresholds. In addition to specifying the number of epochs,
(Beale and Jackson 1990). The best neural network was alternative stopping conditions may also be specified, and if
identified after a number of trials to have four layers. An overlearning occurs, the best network discovered during
input layer of eight neurons, an output layer of one training can be retrieved. In the present work, the number
neuron, and also two hidden layers were considered in the of epochs varied between 100 and 300 (Noori 2003).
design of the ANN (Flood and Kartam 1994a, b). It is Learning rate controls the size of weight changes made by
noted that the number of neurons in each hidden layers is the algorithm. A larger learning rate may lead to faster
trained once the error of network reaches a minimum convergence, providing that the error surface is not too noisy.
value (Banimahd et al. 2005). There are two fields for the learning rate. The first is the
starting rate; the second is the finishing rate; if these fields
Training networks differ, neural networks will adjust the learning rate on each
epoch, interpolating between the two values. In the present
The behavior of a neural network is governed by the values work, a learning rate of 0.5 is selected.
of its weights and thresholds. Training algorithms are used The addition of momentum causes the back propagation
to adjust the weights and thresholds, using training data algorithm to pick up speed. If a number of consecutive
sets. The network needs to be trained to give the desired steps change the weights in the same direction, the
output using a training set. Training set is a group of input momentum must be in the range [0.0, 1.0].
sets and corresponding desired output set. Training involves If shuffle cases feature is selected, the order of
the revision of the synaptic weights. The training set should presentation of cases is altered within each epoch. Without
be self-sufficient to train the network. The network reads this feature, learning sometimes suffers as the algorithm
each set of input data and produces an output. This output starts to learn early cases in the epoch and then abandons
is then compared with the desired output. Before the these as it learns the later cases.
training is completed, there would obviously be a difference If cross-verification feature is selected, the network’s
between the network output and the desired output. Then performance will be tested on each epoch using any
the synaptic weights are adjusted such that the error verification set defined. If it is turned off, the verification
function is decreased. This way, the network adjusts its set is ignored during training, even if present. In this paper,
synaptic weights, while running through all the input and both shuffle cases and cross verification remained on.
desired output sets. When the network has run through all
the input patterns, root mean square error given by Eq. 11 is
compared with the maximum desired tolerance. If it is Modeling and training
greater than the maximum desired tolerance, a new epoch
(a run through all training input–output sets) is started after As shown in Fig. 7, the study area (Noabad) is located in
the completion of the current one, and the synaptic weights north of Iran, Mazandaran. The annual mean temperature of
are further adjusted toward reducing the error function. This the terrain is 12.5°c and the annual mean precipitation is
process is repeated until the network achieves an error estimated 800 (mm). The area climate from Dommartan
function less than the desired tolerance. This is called as the method is humid. From geological point of view, the most
back propagation algorithm. of geologic units are related to Cenozoic era that for reason
of the existence of marl, shale and silty stones are
susceptible to landslide occurrence.
" #0:5
N Before any further examination of an existing slope,
1 X 0 2
RMSE ¼ Yi Yi : ð11Þ essential borehole information was obtained. This informa-
N i¼1
tion gave details of the strata, moisture content, and the
316 Arab J Geosci (2009) 2:311–319
Internal friction
angle (φ)
k
Horizontal ( wij )
coefficient of
earthquake (ah)
Vertical
coefficient of
earthquake (av)
acceleration adds an unfavorably oriented force to the Where tensile strength between the soil particles exists
blocks that may cause instability. However, the acceleration (for example due to cementation), ground displacements
also reduces normal stresses on the contact plane and due to seismic waves may be sufficiently large to rupture
thereby the contribution of the friction to the shear strength bonds between soil particles, leading to loss of tensile
along the plane. The contribution of the cohesion to the strength and cohesion (Ishihara 1986). Seismic waves cause
shear strength may be real cohesion due to cementation or a cyclic loading effect on the soil. In loose unconsolidated
apparent cohesion due to asperities on the discontinuity soils, this may lead to compaction thereby reducing pore
plane. During an earthquake, the cementation may be volume. If the pore water cannot drain fast enough, the pore
broken, asperities may be broken, or asperities may be pressure will increase, the effective stresses between the
overridden leading to nonfitting roughness patterns, all grains will be reduced, and hence, the shear strength
resulting in a cohesion and friction that are permanently between the grains will be reduced. Eventually, the soil
reduced. Hence, an earthquake does not only add unfavor- may lose all its shear strength and the soil may liquefy. On
able forces to a slope but may also permanently reduce the slopes, failure will occur before the shear strength is
shear strength along the discontinuity planes in a slope. reduced to zero.
80
correlation
60
40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Case NO
Fig. 11 Correlation and case no. Fig. 13 Runoff influence on slope stability
Arab J Geosci (2009) 2:311–319 319
slope stability analysis for a particular study area, Noabad, Cormeau IC (1975) Numerical stability in quasi-static elasto/visco-
plasticity. Int J Numer Meth Eng (1975) 9:109–127
Mazandaran, Iran. To this end, we had approximately 1,000
Farrokhzad F (2007) Assessing liquefaction using artificial neural
outputs of slope stability from case simulation. Among netwrok. MSc research submitted to the Babol University of
these data, we used 80% for the training and remaining for Technology, Iran
validating the prediction capability using the best run of Farrokhzad F (2008) Babol liquefaction zonation using artificial
neural network. MSc thesis submitted to the Babol University
each case. The dataset covers a wide spectrum of soil and
of Technology, Iran
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particular site, of primary importance is the recognition of principles and understandings. J Comput Civ Eng ASCE 8
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by Bishop’s classical method. In all cases, it is over 92% Griffiths DV, Lane PA (1999) Slope stability analysis by finite
elements. Geotechnique 49(3):387–403
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