Optimal Design of Pile Foundations using a Metaheuristic Optimization Algorithm: A Geotechnical Engineering Case Study

Abstract

The optimal design of a pile system was presented in this work as a multi-objective optimization problem that includes maximization for the pile capacity and its skin friction while minimization to the cost of material and excavations. The contradiction among maximum lifting forces due to specific soil conditions and minimum fabrication cost drives the pile design problem to be a nonlinear complex problem. The proposed methodology presents a robust procedure to solve this issue using metaheuristic algorithms. In the respective sections, Dynamic Differential Annealed Optimization, Genetic Algorithms, Particle Swarm Optimization, Simulated Annealing, Differential Evolution, Harmony Search, Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm, Firefly Algorithm, and Grey Wolf Optimizer were used to solve the optimal design of a pile system and the results shows that Dynamic Differential Annealed Optimization can be considered as the best solver for this geotechnical problem.