Optimization and automatization of end-bearing pile groups

Sammanfattning: This thesis consists of the development, trial an application of a computational tool that by the use of the Genetic Algorithm optimization method provides the user with an alternative approach from the traditional trial and error when faced with the challenge of designing end bearing pile groups.The work presents the three main concepts needed for understanding the computational tool as well as the structure of it. The scripting capabilities of a FEM software are exploited in order to automatically generate several design alternatives that are then compared in quality in an iterative way. The developed algorithm succeeds validation against pile group problems with known solutions and is then applied to the analysis of three different real structures with different levels of complexity.The algorithm is suitable for optimizing problems with loading in three directions and several load cases, within a time range consistent with an overnight run, when the density of the pile group is not high. Another potential application is to automatize retaining wall resting on piles type problems within a short amount of computational time.