Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Water Engineering and Hydraulic Structures, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran
  • 2 Institute of Energy Infrastructure (IEI), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Civil Engineering, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. huangyf@utar.edu.my
  • 5 Department of Civil Engineering, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran
  • 6 Department of Civil Engineering, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 7 Faculty of Computer Technologies and Engineering, International Black Sea University, Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 8 Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya (UM), 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2021 Jan;28(2):1596-1611.
PMID: 32851519 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-10421-y

Abstract

There is a need to develop an accurate and reliable model for predicting suspended sediment load (SSL) because of its complexity and difficulty in practice. This is due to the fact that sediment transportation is extremely nonlinear and is directed by numerous parameters such as rainfall, sediment supply, and strength of flow. Thus, this study examined two scenarios to investigate the effectiveness of the artificial neural network (ANN) models and determine the sensitivity of the predictive accuracy of the model to specific input parameters. The first scenario proposed three advanced optimisers-whale algorithm (WA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and bat algorithm (BA)-for the optimisation of the performance of artificial neural network (ANN) in accurately predicting the suspended sediment load rate at the Goorganrood basin, Iran. In total, 5 different input combinations were examined in various lag days of up to 5 days to make a 1-day-ahead SSL prediction. Scenario 2 introduced a multi-objective (MO) optimisation algorithm that utilises the same inputs from scenario 1 as a way of determining the best combination of inputs. Results from scenario 1 revealed that high accuracy levels were achieved upon utilisation of a hybrid ANN-WA model over the ANN-BA with an RMSE value ranging from 1 to 6%. Furthermore, the ANN-WA model performed better than the ANN-PSO with an accuracy improvement value of 5-20%. Scenario 2 achieved the highest R2 when ANN-MOWA was introduced which shows that hybridisation of the multi-objective algorithm with WA and ANN model significantly improves the accuracy of ANN in predicting the daily suspended sediment load.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.