| Summary: | Geotechnical site investigations are an essential prerequisite for reliable foundation designs. However, there is relatively little quantitative guidance for planning optimal investigations, including the choice of testing location. This study uses a genetic algorithm to find the ideal testing locations of various numbers of boreholes with respect to pile foundation performance. The optimization has been done separately for single-layer and multi-layer soils, which infer what is best for obtaining soil material properties and delineating layer boundaries, respectively. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to find the genetic algorithm parameters that result in high quality solutions within a reasonable timeframe. While boreholes arranged in a regular grid pattern provide good performance in many cases, there are instances where optimized locations provide a cost saving of A$2 million, or 4.2% of the construction cost. A set of recommended testing guidelines is provided.
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