Soft computing-based slope stability assessment: A comparative study

Analysis of slope stability failures, as one of the complex natural hazards, is one of the important research issues in the field of civil engineering. Present paper adopts and investigates four soft computing-based techniques for this problem: Patient Rule-Induction Method (PRIM), M5' algorithm, Group Method of data Handling (GMDH) and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS). A comprehensive database consisting of 168 case histories is used to calibrate and test the developed models. Six predictive variables including slope height, slope angle, bulk density, cohesion, angle of internal friction, and pore water pressure ratio were considered to generate new models. The results of test studies are used for feasibility, effectiveness and practicality comparison of techniques with each other, and with the other available well-known methods in the literature. Results show that all methods not only are feasible but also result in better performance than previously developed soft computing based predictive models and tools. It is shown that M5' and PRIM algorithms are the most effective and practical prediction models.