A meshfree-Galerkin method in modelling and synthesizing spatially varying soil properties

► A meshfree-Galerkin approach is proposed for modelling spatial soil properties. ► An optimization scheme for compatibility of target and analytical covariance models is proposed. ► The meshfree-Galerkin scheme is assessed by representations of various random fields. ► Accuracy and validity are demonstrated using spatial soil models inferred from field measurements.