Hybrid ANFIS–PSO approach for predicting optimum parameters of a protective spur dike

•A protective spur dike is used to reduce scour depth around main spur dikes.•A new hybrid approach, combining particle swarm optimization and adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS–PSO) was used.•Optimized parameters of the protective spur dike are presented.

In this study a new approach was proposed to determine optimum parameters of a protective spur dike to mitigate scouring depth amount around existing main spur dikes. The studied parameters were angle of the protective spur dike relative to the flume wall, its length, and its distance from the main spur dikes, flow intensity, and the diameters of the sediment particles that were explored to find the optimum amounts. In prediction phase, a novel hybrid approach was developed, combining adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system and particle swarm optimization (ANFIS–PSO) to predict protective spur dike's parameters in order to control scouring around a series of spur dikes. The results indicated that the accuracy of the proposed method is increased significantly compared to other approaches. In addition, the effectiveness of the developed method was confirmed using the available data.

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