State-of-the-art review on the use of AI-enhanced computational mechanics in geotechnical engineering

Abstract

Significant uncertainties can be found in the modelling of geotechnical materials. This can be attributed to the complex behaviour of soils and rocks amidst construction processes. Over the past decades, the field has increasingly embraced the application of artificial intelligence methodologies, thus recognising their suitability in forecasting non-linear relationships intrinsic to materials. This review offers a critical evaluation AI methodologies incorporated in computational mechanics for geotechnical engineering. The analysis categorises four pivotal areas: physical properties, mechanical properties, constitutive models, and other characteristics relevant to geotechnical materials. Among the various methodologies analysed, ANNs stand out as the most commonly used strategy, while other methods such as SVMs, LSTMs, and CNNs also see a significant level of application. The most widely used AI algorithms are Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Random Forest (RF), and Support Vector Machines (SVM), representing 35%, 19%, and 17% respectively. The most extensive AI application is in the domain of mechanical properties, accounting for 59%, followed by other applications at 16%. The efficacy of AI applications is intrinsically linked to the type of datasets employed, the selected model input. This study also outlines future research directions emphasising the need to integrate physically guided and adaptive learning mechanisms to enhance the reliability and adaptability in addressing multi-scale and multi-physics coupled mechanics problems in geotechnics.