Optimization of Computational Intelligence Models for Landslide Susceptibility Evaluation

Abstract

This paper focuses on landslide susceptibility prediction in Nanchuan, a high-risk landslide disaster area. The evidential belief function (EBF)-based function tree (FT), logistic regression (LR), and logistic model tree (LMT) were applied to Nanchuan District, China. Firstly, an inventory with 298 landslides was compiled and separated into two parts (70%: 209; 30%: 89) as training and validation datasets. Then, based on the EBF method, the Bel values of 16 conditioning factors related to landslide occurrence were calculated, and these Bel values were used as input data for building other models. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the values of the area under the ROC curve (AUC) were used to evaluate and compare the prediction ability of the four models. All the models achieved good results and performed well. In particular, the LMT model had the best performance (0.847 and 0.765, obtained from the training and validation datasets, respectively). This paper also demonstrates the superiority of integration and optimization of models in landslide susceptibility evaluation. Finally, the best classification method was selected to draw landslide susceptibility maps, which may be helpful for government administrators and engineers to carry out land design and planning.