Employment of the bootstrap method for optimal sensor location considering uncertainties in a coupled hydro-mechanical application

Abstract Numerical simulations become an increasingly utilised tool for predicting soil behaviour in geotechnical engineering. However, these simulations require reliable soil parameters that have to be determined either by conducting laboratory experiments or by model parameter identification using in-situ measurements. To gain reliable and sufficiently informative measurement results for successful determination of the soil parameters while being still economic, an optimal experimental design is of crucial importance. This work presents a procedure of setting up a monitoring concept for a dike with uncertain material properties exposed to a rapid drawdown of the adjacent water level. The illustrative example is numerically modelled using a coupled hydro-mechanical analysis and the parameters that are most relevant for the dike stability are firstly identified via global sensitivity analysis. Subsequently, the global sensitivity analysis with respect to measurable outputs is employed to identify appropriate monitoring areas. Finally, bootstrapping is conducted to make possible to decide on the optimal observation sensor locations for reliable identification of the most influential soil parameters.