A GENERALIZED GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION APPLICATION AND ITS USE IN DETERMINING THE HYDRAULIC PROPERTIES OF UNSATURATED SAND

Marc Lebeau, Jean-Marie Konrad

In the proceedings of: GeoQuébec 2015: 68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference & 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference

Session: Laboratory Testing II / Essais en laboratoire II

ABSTRACT: Global optimization consists in finding the best solution to a problem that may contain multiple sub-optimal solutions. Although it dates back to the origins of geometry, it is now extensively applied in various fields of engineering. This paper focuses on the deterministic algorithms that have been implemented in a generalized global optimization application. The application integrates the algorithms into a comprehensive modeling environment that uses the JUPITER API to communicate with any process model with batch processing capabilities. After a brief description of its structure and algorithms, the capabilities of the application are illustrated by finding the hydraulic property functions of unsaturated silica sand through inverse modeling of a multistep outflow experiment with both suction and cumulative outflow measurements. The canonical differential evolution algorithm is shown to be particularly well suited to this optimization problem in which the objective function is topographically complex. The estimated hydraulic property functions are also shown to be in excellent agreement with those independently determined using steady-state methods.

RÉSUMÉ: Loptimisation globale consiste à trouver la meilleure solution à un problème pouvant contenir une multitude de solutions non -cation d'optimisation globale généralisée. L'application intègre les algorithmes dans un environnement de modélisation complet qui utilise l'IPA JUPITER afin de communiquer avec tout modèle pouvant exécuter des traitements par lots. Après une brève description de sa structure et de ses algorithmes, les capacités de l'application sont illustrées en régime transitoire avec mesures de la succion et topographiquement complexe. Les propriétés hydrauliques ainsi estiméent être en excellent accord avec ceux déterminés indépendamment en utilisant des méthodes de mesure en régime permanent.

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