• Computers and Concrete
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.565-574
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• 2020

Over the years, several machine learning approaches have been proposed and utilized to create a prediction model for the high-performance concrete (HPC) slump flow. Despite HPC is a highly complex material, predicting its pattern is a rather ambitious process. Hence, choosing and applying the correct method remain a crucial task. Like some other problems, prediction of HPC slump flow suffers from abnormal attributes which might both have an influence on prediction accuracy and increases variance. In recent years, different studies are proposed to optimize the prediction accuracy for HPC slump flow. However, more state-of-the-art regression algorithms can be implemented to create a better model. This study focuses on several methods with different mathematical backgrounds to get the best possible results. Four well-known algorithms Support Vector Regression, M5P Trees, Random Forest, and MLPReg are implemented with optimum parameters as base learners. Also, redundant features are examined to better understand both how ingredients influence on prediction models and whether possible to achieve acceptable results with a few components. Based on the findings, the MLPReg algorithm with optimum parameters gives better results than others in terms of commonly used statistical error evaluation metrics. Besides, chosen algorithms can give rather accurate results using just a few attributes of a slump flow dataset.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.231-251
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• 2018

The objective of the investigation is the analysis of wind-tunnel experimental errors, associated with the measurement of aeroelastic coefficients of bridge decks (Scanlan flutter derivatives). A two-degree-of-freedom experimental apparatus is used for the measurement of flutter derivatives. A section model of a closed-box bridge deck is considered in this investigation. Identification is based on free-vibration aeroelastic tests and the Iterative Least Squares method. Experimental error investigation is carried out by repeating the measurements and acquisitions thirty times for each wind tunnel speed and configuration of the model. This operational procedure is proposed for analyzing the experimental variability of flutter derivatives. Several statistical quantities are examined; these quantities include the standard deviation and the empirical probability density function of the flutter derivatives at each wind speed. Moreover, the critical flutter speed of the setup is evaluated according to standard flutter theory by accounting for experimental variability. Since the probability distribution of flutter derivatives and critical flutter speed does not seem to obey a standard theoretical model, polynomial chaos expansion is proposed and used to represent the experimental variability.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.133-142
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• 2017

Two-stage concrete (TSC), also known as pre-placed aggregate concrete, is characterized by its unique placement technique, whereby the coarse aggregate is first placed in the formwork, then injected with a special grout. Despite its superior sustainability and technical features, TSC has remained a basic concrete technology without much use of modern chemical admixtures, new binders, fiber reinforcement or other emerging additions. In the present study, an experimental database for TSC was built. Different types of cementitious binders (single, binary, and ternary) comprising ordinary portland cement, fly ash, silica fume, and metakaolin were used to produce the various TSC mixtures. Different dosages of steel fibres having different lengths were also incorporated to enhance the mechanical properties of TSC. The database thus created was used to develop fuzzy logic models as predictive tools for the grout flowability and mechanical properties of TSC mixtures. The performance of the developed models was evaluated using statistical parameters and error analyses. The results indicate that the fuzzy logic models thus developed can be powerful tools for predicting the TSC grout flowability and mechanical properties and a useful aid for the design of TSC mixtures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제22권5호
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• pp.397-414
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• 2020

In this paper, practical predictive models for soil shear strength parameters are proposed. As cohesion and internal friction angle are of essential shear strength parameters in any geotechnical studies, we try to predict them via artificial neural network (ANN) and neuro-imperialism approaches. The proposed models was based on the result of a series of consolidated undrained triaxial tests were conducted on reinforced sandy soil. The experimental program surveys the increase in internal friction angle of sandy soil due to addition of polypropylene fibers with different lengths and percentages. According to the result of the experimental study, the most important parameters impact on internal friction angle i.e., fiber percentage, fiber length, deviator stress, and pore water pressure were selected as predictive model inputs. The inputs were used to construct several ANN and neuro-imperialism models and a series of statistical indices were calculated to evaluate the prediction accuracy of the developed models. Both simulation results and the values of computed indices confirm that the newly-proposed neuro-imperialism model performs noticeably better comparing to the proposed ANN model. While neuro-imperialism model has training and test error values of 0.068 and 0.094, respectively, ANN model give error values of 0.083 for training sets and 0.26 for testing sets. Therefore, the neuro-imperialism can provide a new applicable model to effectively predict the internal friction angle of fiber-reinforced sandy soil.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.197-208
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• 2019

The objective of this study is to propose new seismic intensity parameters based on the Hilbert spectrum and to associate them with the seismic damage potential. In recent years the assessment of even more seismic features derived from the seismic acceleration time-histories was associated with the structural damage. For a better insight into the complex seismic acceleration time-history, Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) analysis is utilized for its processing, and the Hilbert spectrum is obtained. New proposed seismic intensity parameters based on the Hilbert spectrum are derived. The aim is to achieve a significant estimation of the seismic damage potential on structures from the proposed new intensity parameters confirmed by statistical methods. Park-Ang overall structural damage index is used to describe the postseismic damage status of structures. Thus, a set of recorded seismic accelerograms from all over the word is applied on a reinforced concrete frame structure, and the Park-Ang indices through nonlinear dynamic analysis are provided and considered subsequently as reference numerical values. Conventional seismic parameters, with well-known seismic structural damage interrelation, are evaluated for the same set of excitations. Statistical procedures, namely correlation study and multilinear regression analysis, are applied on the set of the conventional parameters and the set of proposed new parameters separately, to confirm their interrelation with the seismic structural damage. The regression models are used for the evaluation of the structural damage indices for every set of parameters, respectively. The predicted numerical values of the structural damage indices evaluated from the two sets of seismic intensity parameters are inter-compared with the reference values. The numerical results confirm the ability of the proposed Hilbert spectrum based new seismic intensity parameters to approximate the postseismic structural damage with a smaller Standard Error of Estimation than this accomplished of the conventional ones.

• Advances in environmental research
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• 제6권4호
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• pp.265-279
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• 2017

The climate change has made adverse effects on land surface temperature for many regions of the world. Several climatic studies focused on different downscaling techniques for climatological parameters of different regions. For statistical downscaling of any hydrological parameters, conventional Neural Network Models were used in common. However, it seems that in any modeling study, uncertainty is a vital aspect when making any predictions about the performance. In this paper, Gamma Test is performed to determine the data length selection for training to minimize the uncertainty in model development. Another measure to improve the data quality and model development are wavelet transforms. Hence, Gamma Test with Wavelet decomposed Feedforward Neural Network (GT-WNN) model is developed and tested for downscaled land surface temperature of Patna Urban, Bihar. The results of GT-WNN model are compared with GT-FFNN and conventional Feedforward Neural Network (FFNN) model. The effectiveness of the developed models is illustrated by Root Mean Square Error and Coefficient of Correlation. Results showed that GT-WNN outperformed the GT-FFNN and conventional FFNN in downscaling the land surface temperature. The land surface temperature is forecasted for a period of 2015-2044 with GT-WNN model for Patna Urban in Bihar. In addition, the significance of the probable changes in the land surface temperature is also found through Mann-Kendall (M-K) Test for Summer, Winter, Monsoon and Post Monsoon seasons. Results showed an increasing surface temperature trend for summer and winter seasons and no significant trend for monsoon and post monsoon season over the study area for the period between 2015 and 2044. Overall, the M-K test analysis for the annual data shows an increasing trend in the land surface temperature of Patna Urban.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제34권5호
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• pp.421-435
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• 2022

To investigate the non-Gaussian properties of fluctuating wind pressures and the error margin of extreme wind loads on a long-span curved roof with matching and mismatching ratios of turbulence integral scales to depth (L_u^x/D), a series of synchronized pressure tests on the rigid model of the complex curved roof were conducted. The regions of Gaussian distribution and non-Gaussian distribution were identified by two criteria, which were based on the cumulative probabilities of higher-order statistical moments (skewness and kurtosis coefficients, S_k and K_u) and spatial correlation of fluctuating wind pressures, respectively. Then the characteristics of fluctuating wind-loads in the non-Gaussian region were analyzed in detail in order to understand the effects of turbulence integral-scale. Results showed that the fluctuating pressures with obvious negative-skewness appear in the area near the leading edge, which is categorized as the non-Gaussian region by both two identification criteria. Comparing with those in the wind field with matching L_u^x/D, the range of non-Gaussian region almost unchanged with a smaller L_u^x/D, while the non-Gaussian features become more evident, leading to higher values of S_k, Ku and peak factor. On contrary, the values of fluctuating pressures become lower in the wind field with a smaller L_u^x/D, eventually resulting in underestimation of extreme wind loads. Hence, the matching relationship of turbulence integral scale to depth should be carefully considered as estimating the extreme wind loads of long-span roof by wind tunnel tests.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.751-764
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• 2020

Real-time monitoring of stiffness and strength in cement based system has received significant attention in past few decades owing to the development of advanced techniques. Also, use of environment friendly supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) in cement, though gaining huge interest, severely affect the strength gain especially in early ages. Continuous monitoring of strength- and stiffness- gain using an efficient technique will systematically facilitate to choose the suitable time of removal of formwork for structures made with SCM incorporated concrete. This paper presents a technique for monitoring the strength and stiffness evolution in hydrating fly ash blended cement systems using electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) based technique. It is important to observe that the slower pozzolanic reactivity of fly ash blended cement systems could be effectively tracked using the evolution of equivalent local stiffness of the hydrating medium. Strength prediction models are proposed for estimating the strength and stiffness of the fly ash cement system, where curing age (in terms of hours/days) and the percentage replacement of cement by fly ash are the parameters. Evaluation of strength as obtained from EMI characteristics is validated with the results from destructive compression test and also compared with the same obtained from commonly used ultrasonic wave velocity (UPV). Statistical error indices indicate that the EMI technique is capable of predicting the strength of fly ash blended cement system more accurate than that from UPV. Further, the correlations between stiffness- and strength- gain over the time of hydration are also established. From the study, it is found that EMI based method can be effectively used for monitoring of strength gain in the fly ash incorporated cement system during hardening.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.289-302
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• 2023

Insulating glass units (IGUs) have been widely used in buildings in recent years due to their superior thermal insulation performance. However, because of the panel reciprocating motion and fatigue deterioration of sealants under long-term wind loads, many IGUs have the problem of early failure of watertight properties in real usage. This study aimed to propose a statistical method for wind-induced deflection of IGU panels during the whole life service period, for further precise analysis of the accumulated fatigue damage at the sealed part of the edge bond. By the estimation of the wind occurrence regularity based on wind pressure return period, the events of each wind speed interval during the whole life were obtained for the IGUs at 50m height in Beijing, which are in good agreement with the measured data. Also, the wind-induced deflection analysis method of IGUs based on the formula of airspace coefficient was proposed and verified as an improvement of the original stiffness distribution method with the average relative error compared to the test being about 3% or less. Combining the two methods above, the deformation of the outer and inner panes under wind loads during 30 years was precisely calculated, and the deflection and stress state at selected locations were obtained finally. The results show that the compression displacement at the secondary sealant under the maximum wind pressure is close to 0.3mm (strain 2.5%), and the IGUs are in tens of thousands of times the low amplitude tensile-compression cycle and several times to dozens of times the relatively high amplitude tensile-compression cycle environment. The approach proposed in this paper provides a basis for subsequent studies on the durability of IGUs and the wind-resistant behaviors of curtain wall structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제49권3호
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• pp.337-348
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• 2023

Successive wetting and drying cycles of concrete due to weather changes can endanger the safety of engineering structures over time. Considering wetting and drying cycles in concrete tests can lead to a more correct and reliable design of engineering structures. This study aims to provide a model that can be used to estimate the resistance properties of concrete under different wetting and drying cycles. Complex sample preparation methods, the necessity for highly accurate and sensitive instruments, early sample failure, and brittle samples all contribute to the difficulty of measuring the strength of concrete in the laboratory. To address these problems, in this study, the potential ability of six machine learning techniques, including ANN, SVM, RF, KNN, XGBoost, and NB, to predict the concrete's tensile strength was investigated by applying 240 datasets obtained using the Brazilian test (80% for training and 20% for test). In conducting the test, the effect of additives such as glass and polypropylene, as well as the effect of wetting and drying cycles on the tensile strength of concrete, was investigated. Finally, the statistical analysis results revealed that the XGBoost model was the most robust one with R2 = 0.9155, mean absolute error (MAE) = 0.1080 Mpa, and variance accounted for (VAF) = 91.54% to predict the concrete tensile strength. This work's significance is that it allows civil engineers to accurately estimate the tensile strength of different types of concrete. In this way, the high time and cost required for the laboratory tests can be eliminated.