Design of surrogate models in civil engineering by neural networks

Abstract

We present a task from the critical infrastructure field in materials engineering. We created a surrogate model for the bridge construction object to determine the material parameters’ values. The work aims to use neural networks to conduct an initial investigation of the task and to find out the aspects of machine learning application. To reduce the computational complexity of the models, we designed specific neural networks whose architecture corresponds to the structure and characteristics of the processed data. Furthermore, we outcome also interpretability and justification of the model’s decision-making. The main contribution of the work is the replacement of the unknown or too complex physical, mathematical description of material objects with a neural network model.