Optimized deep learning modelling for predicting the diffusion range and state change of filling projects

Concealment of filling constructions poses significant challenges for quality assurance in filling engineering. Direct surveillance of fill dispersal currently remains infeasible, while conventional detection techniques suffer deficiencies in efficiency. This research proposes a framework integrating elastic wave monitoring and hybrid deep learning for predictive modelling of filling state transitions and diffusion range. During the sand filling of the immersed tunnel, elastic wave data is collected via elastic wave testing, and the response energy characteristic is derived through time-domain analysis. The trends in elastic wave response energy are correlated with three filling states: free diffusion, accumulation, and filled state, using Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess (STL) for seasonal trend analysis. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Long Short-Term Memory Networks (LSTM) are utilized to extract spatiotemporal features from the response energy trends, facilitating accurate prediction of the trends’ development and the sand filling state over time. The performances of the proposed strategy are illustrated through an application to the case study of the sand filling construction of the Chebeilu immersed tunnel. The CNN + LSTM model with the proposed strategy gave excellent results (MAE 0.0663, MSE 0.0071, RMSE 0.0845). The model can predict fill state changes and quantify diffusion radii to optimize and guide the construction process.