Shear Wave Velocity Prediction with Hyperparameter Optimization

Abstract

Shear wave velocity (Vs) is an important soil parameter to be known for earthquake-resistant structural design and an important parameter for determining the dynamic properties of soils such as modulus of elasticity and shear modulus. Different Vs measurement methods are available. However, these methods, which are costly and labor intensive, have led to the search for new methods for determining the Vs. This study aims to predict shear wave velocity (Vs (m/s)) using depth (m), cone resistance (qc) (MPa), sleeve friction (fs) (kPa), pore water pressure (u2) (kPa), N, and unit weight (kN/m3). Since shear wave velocity varies with depth, regression studies were performed at depths up to 30 m in this study. The dataset used in this study is an open-source dataset, and the soil data are from the Taipei Basin. This dataset was extracted, and a 494-line dataset was created. In this study, using HyperNetExplorer 2024V1, Vs prediction based on depth (m), cone resistance (qc) (MPa), shell friction (fs), pore water pressure (u2) (kPa), N, and unit weight (kN/m3) values could be performed with satisfactory results (R2 = 0.78, MSE = 596.43). Satisfactory results were obtained in this study, in which Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) models were also used. © 2025 by the authors.