Machine Learning–Enhanced Modeling of Stress–Strain Behavior of Frozen Sandy Soil

Abstract

Many experiments and computational techniques have been employed to explain the mechanical properties of frozen soils. Nevertheless, due to the substantial complexity of their responses, modeling the stress–strain characteristics of frozen soils remains challenging. In this study, artificial neural networks (ANNs) were employed for modeling the mechanical behavior of frozen soil, while different testing strategies were carried out. A database covering stress–strain data from frozen sandy soil subjected to varying temperatures and confining pressures, resulting from triaxial tests, was compiled and employed to train the model. Subsequently, different artificial neural networks were trained and developed to estimate the deviatoric stress and volumetric strain, while temperature, axial strain, and confining pressure were considered as the main input variables. Based on the findings, it can be indicated that the models effectively predict the stress–strain behavior of frozen soil with a significant level of accuracy.

Keywords

• frozen soil
• stress–strain behavior
• mechanical behavior
• machine learning
• artificial neural networks