Nature-inspired optimization prey–predator algorithm for soil slope stability analysis with physically informed initial population generation

In soil slope stability, locating the critical slip surface with the minimum safety factor is a difficult and complicated optimization problem. Most methods fail when proper bounds are not applied to the decision variable. For the first time, the paper uses the prey–predator algorithm to analyze slopes stability with circular slip surfaces making use of meaningful rules, from an engineering point of view, to define these bounds. The Fellenius method based on limit equilibrium technique also serves as the constraint of the mathematical problem adopted to solve the task. A pseudo-analytical study is also carried out on four benchmark literature problems to test the performance and to certify the accuracy of the results obtained with the new application of the prey–predator algorithm. We show that the solutions obtained are accurate and should be assumed as a reference comparing to other methods.