Displacement back analysis of embankment dam based on neural network and evolutionary algorithm

A new approach of displacement back analysis is proposed by combining the neural network and evolutionary algorithm. The neural network with optimal architecture trained by evolutionary algorithm and Vogl algorithm is used to substitute the time-consuming finite element analysis. The convergence of search is improved and speeded up by evolution strategies such as multi-population. The proposed approach is verified by applying it to the displacement back analysis of Maopingxi embankment dam in Three Gorges Project: and the influence of generation number and sample size on the simulation ability of neural network is studied.