Genetic programming approach for prediction of local scour downstream of hydraulic structures

This is a pioneer study that presents genetic programming (GP) as a new tool for prediction of local scour downstream of grade-control structures. The objective of this study is to provide an alternative formulation to conventional regression based equations and verify the superiority of GP over regression analysis. The training and testing patterns of the proposed GP formulation are based on well established and widely dispersed experimental results from the literature. Linear and nonlinear regression-based equations were derived throughout regression analysis on dimensionless parameters obtained from dimensional analysis. The GP-based formulation results are compared with experimental results and other equations and found to be more accurate.