The Bearing Characteristics of a Grillage Root Foundation Based on a Transparent Soil Material: Enhancing the Bearing Capacity

The construction of a power grillage is of great significance for promoting local economic development. Identifying the characteristics of foundation damage is a prerequisite for ensuring the normal service of the power grillage. To investigate the bearing mechanism and failure mode of the grillage root foundations, a novel research method with a transparent soil material was used to conduct model tests on different types of foundations using particle image velocimetry (PIV) technology. The results indicate that, compared to traditional foundations, the uplift and horizontal bearing capacities of grillage root foundations increased by 34.35% to 38.89% and by 10.76% to 14.29%, respectively. Furthermore, increasing the base plate size and burial depth can further enhance the extent of the soil displacement field. Additionally, PIV analysis revealed that the roots improve pile-soil interactions, transferring the load to the surrounding undisturbed soil and creating a parabolic displacement field during the uplift process, which significantly suppresses foundation displacement. Lastly, based on experimental data, an Elman neural network was employed to construct a load-bearing capacity prediction model, which was optimized using genetic algorithms (GAs) and the whale optimization algorithm (WOA), maintaining a prediction error within 3%. This research demonstrates that root arrangement enhances the bearing capacity and stability of foundations, while optimized neural networks can accurately predict the bearing capacity of grillage root foundations, thus broadening the application scope of transparent soil materials and offering novel insights into the application of artificial intelligence technology in geotechnical engineering. For stakeholders in the bearing manufacturing industry, this study provides important insights on how to improve load-bearing capacity and stability through the optimization of the basic design, which can help reduce material costs and construction challenges, and enhance the reliability of power grillage infrastructure.