Abstract
Inverting the Richards equation has been shown to be a potentially viable method for estimating the water retention curve and hydraulic conductivity of soil in geomechanics. However, robust inversion algorithms are required to achieve accurate predictions. This paper compares the performance of three nature-inspired algorithms, namely a genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimisation (PSO), and simulated annealing (SA), to that of the more conventional Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm (LMA). The model of a simple infiltration experiment is used, with a saturated sample on top of a dry sample in a sealed environment. Synthetic data are first generated representing measurements of pressure heads mid-point in each layer. A Richards-equation inverter software (SPAS Inverse) is used next to fit predicted pressure heads to synthetic ones. It was found that PSO performed best in terms of robustness and accuracy and that there was significant scope for hybridising algorithms to further improve performance.
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Hanna, M., El-Zein, A. (2023). Estimation of Soil Water Retention Curves by Inversion of the Richards Equation: A Comparison of Nature-Inspired and Gradient Algorithms. In: Barla, M., Di Donna, A., Sterpi, D., Insana, A. (eds) Challenges and Innovations in Geomechanics. IACMAG 2022. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 288. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12851-6_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12851-6_30
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