Application of Genetic Programming Techniques to Examine Loss of Energy in Traditional Gabion Weir

Abstract The current study used the genetic programming technique to re-analyze the data of the classical shape of the gabion baskets in a trial to find the best solution to represent the energy dissipation term of this type of hydraulic structures. For that, the resulted data from using five different gabion baskets with different filling materials put respectively within a flume channel with a range of discharges between (0.7 − 15.0 l/s) were tested using the “GeneXproTools 5.0” computer program, and compare the resulted formulas by those formulated previously by the non-linear regression analysis. The conclusion of this study approved the fact that using of the genetic programming technique gives a flexible treatment in analyzing the resulted data of the experimental works especially for this type of hydraulic structures, whereas the used technique gave a mathematical expression of the raw data of the experimental work with an acceptable solution compared by the solutions of the former used technique. Keep changing the ratio of both the training and validation data is the better way to achieve the best solution, whereas the ratio of (60% training:40% validation) gave higher value of R2 equal to 0.94 compared by that for non-linear regression analysis, but the resulted formulas of the gabion baskets for all cases showed a complex expression compared by those resulted from the non-linear regression analysis of the literature studies, and that probably make the manual field application goes difficult compared by the direct analysis style. Although, all the resulted formulas of the gabion baskets by the used technique showed high accuracy validation values which make them acceptable for design and future development purposes of this kind of weirs.