LAUSR

ABSTRACT This investigation aimed to examine the load carrying capacity of piles embedded in sandy soil of various densities, and to develop a predictive model to determine pile settlement using a novel artificial intelligence (AI) method. Experimental pile load tests were conducted using three concrete piles, with aspect ratios of 12, 17 and 25. Evolutionary Levenberg–Marquardt MATLAB algorithms, enhanced by T-tests and F-tests, were used in this process. According to the statistical analysis and the relative importance study, pile length, applied load, pile flexural rigidity, pile aspect ratio and sand–pile friction angle were found to play a key role in pile settlement. Results revealed that the proposed optimum model algorithm precisely characterized pile settlement. There was close agreement between the experimental and predicted data (Pearson's R = 0.988, P = 6.28 × 10-31) with a relatively insignificant root mean square error of 0.002.