Computational Intelligence Applications to Civil and Environmental Engineering Problems
Adel W. Sadek
With the advances in information technologies, engineers and scientists have recently been collecting never-before-seen quantities of data. However, this data has not always provided the information needed to support sound decision-making. One paradigm that holds high potential to address this need is Computational Intelligence (CI). CI has resulted from a synergy among information processing technologies such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), fuzzy sets, Case-Based Reasoning (CBR), genetic algorithms (GA’s), and Simulated Annealing (SA). In the current presentation, we focus on two problems, from the field of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and describe how CI paradigms are being utilized to address some of the challenges associated with these two problems. The two problems are: (1) the dynamic route guidance problem which arises in the context of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS); and (2) the phytoremediation problem which involves the use of plants to remediate contaminated sites. The presentation will also discuss some future research directions that are being pursued in the area of CI applications to Civil and Environmental Engineering problems.