Statistical analysis of the error associated with the simplification of the stratigraphy in geotechnical models

The uncertainties in the determination of the stratigraphic profile of natural soils is one of the main problems in geotechnics, in particular for landslide characterization and modeling. The study deals with a new approach in geotechnical modeling which relays on a stochastic generation of different soil layers distributions, following a boolean logic – the method has been thus called BoSG (Boolean Stochastic Generation). In this way, it is possible to randomize the presence of a specific material interdigitated in a uniform matrix. In the building of a geotechnical model it is generally common to discard some stratigraphic data in order to simplify the model itself, assuming that the significance of the results of the modeling procedure would not be affected. With the proposed technique it is possible to quantify the error associated with this simplification. Moreover, it could be used to determine the most significant zones where eventual further investigations and surveys would be more effective to build the geotechnical model of the slope. The commercial software FLAC was used for the 2D and 3D geotechnical model. The distribution of the materials was randomized through a specifically coded MatLab program that automatically generates text files, each of them representing a specific soil configuration. Besides, a routine was designed to automate the computation of FLAC with the different data files in order to maximize the sample number. The methodology is applied with reference to a simplified slope in 2D, a simplified slope in 3D and an actual landslide, namely the Mortisa mudslide (Cortina d’Ampezzo, BL, Italy). However, it could be extended to numerous different cases, especially for hydrogeological analysis and landslide stability assessment, in different geological and geomorphological contexts.

Advanced statistical models for the segregation, identification and measurement of coexisting sound sources

Long-term monitoring of acoustical environments is gaining popularity thanks to the relevant amount of scientific and engineering insights that it provides. The increasing interest is due to the constant growth of storage capacity and computational power to process large amounts of data. In this perspective, machine learning (ML) provides a broad family of data-driven statistical techniques to deal with large databases. Nowadays, the conventional praxis of sound level meter measurements limits the global description of a sound scene to an energetic point of view. The equivalent continuous level Leq represents the main metric to define an acoustic environment, indeed. Finer analyses involve the use of statistical levels. However, acoustic percentiles are based on temporal assumptions, which are not always reliable. A statistical approach, based on the study of the occurrences of sound pressure levels, would bring a different perspective to the analysis of long-term monitoring. Depicting a sound scene through the most probable sound pressure level, rather than portions of energy, brought more specific information about the activity carried out during the measurements. The statistical mode of the occurrences can capture typical behaviors of specific kinds of sound sources. The present work aims to propose an ML-based method to identify, separate and measure coexisting sound sources in real-world scenarios. It is based on long-term monitoring and is addressed to acousticians focused on the analysis of environmental noise in manifold contexts. The presented method is based on clustering analysis. Two algorithms, Gaussian Mixture Model and K-means clustering, represent the main core of a process to investigate different active spaces monitored through sound level meters. The procedure has been applied in two different contexts: university lecture halls and offices. The proposed method shows robust and reliable results in describing the acoustic scenario and it could represent an important analytical tool for acousticians.