Modern soft computing techniques and their applications in civil engineering

Abstract

Soft computing (SC) is a group of technigues and methodologies applied to solve a wide range of problems spread in several areas of science. The aim is to exploit tolerance for imprecision, uncertainiy and partial truth to achieve tractability, robustness and low solution cost. Some of the weli-stablished methodologies include Neural Networks, Evolutionary Computing, Fuzzy Logic, Rough Sets, Decision Trees, etc. The focus of this paper is to briefiy review the fundamentals of modern genetic programming (GP) technigues and their recent applications in various disciplines of civil engineering, particulariy in hydro-environmental studies.