Inverse Analysis in Civil Engineering: Applications to Identification of Parameters and Design of Structural Material Using Mono or Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization

Many engineering applications suffer from the ignorance of mechanical parameters. It is particularly true when soil model is necessary to assess soil behaviour [Meieret al., 2008]. Nevertheless, it is not always efficient to directly assess the values of all the parameters in the case of soil mechanics. Considering structural mechanics, [Li et al., 2007] also worked to propose an optimal design of a truss pylon respecting the stress constraints of the elements but it is not an easy task to solve considering the number and loading of the structure. Inverse analysis is an efficient solution to reach these aims. This technique becomes more and more popular thanks to the increase of the computing capabilities. Computing costs have decreased and allow to handle complex optimization problems through meta heuristic methods for example to identify the solution of the problem like the mechanical parameters of a behaviour model of a soil [Fontan et al., 2011, Levasseur et al., 2008], to define the best section of the beams composing a truss structure or to optimize wood-plastic composite mechanical properties designed for decking and taking into account the environmental impact during the life cycle of the product [Ndiaye et al., 2009]. The literature about inverse analysis is very rich and it covers many application fields like management or mechanical science as attesting the table number 1 in [Fontan et al., 2011] which presents several civil engineering applications (this table is not presented there). Most of the authors mentioned in this paper used the concept of inverse analysis to identify parameters either in structural mechanics [Li et al., 2007, Fontan 2011] or soil mechanics [Meier et al., 2008, Levasseur et al., 2008]. They were just using different mechanical models (analytical or numerical) or different algorithms to solve their problem (PSO, descent gradient, ant colony, genetic algorithm, etc.). Inverse analysis is based on the simple concept of solving an equation to find the n values Xn respecting equation 1, with M: the mechanical model corresponding to the real behaviour of the analysis and Ym: the m measurement carried out on site.