• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.233-246
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• 2023

Accurate prediction of concrete compressive strength can minimize the need for extensive, time-consuming, and costly mixture optimization testing and analysis. This study attempts to enhance the prediction accuracy of compressive strength using stacking ensemble machine learning (ML) with feature engineering techniques. Seven alternative ML models of increasing complexity were implemented and compared, including linear regression, SVM, decision tree, multiple layer perceptron, random forest, Xgboost and Adaboost. To further improve the prediction accuracy, a ML pipeline was proposed in which the feature engineering technique was implemented, and a two-layer stacked model was developed. The k-fold cross-validation approach was employed to optimize model parameters and train the stacked model. The stacked model showed superior performance in predicting concrete compressive strength with a correlation of determination (R²) of 0.985. Feature (i.e., variable) importance was determined to demonstrate how useful the synthetic features are in prediction and provide better interpretability of the data and the model. The methodology in this study promotes a more thorough assessment of alternative ML algorithms and rather than focusing on any single ML model type for concrete compressive strength prediction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2022.11a
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• pp.29-30
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• 2022

The unit-water content has a very significant effect on the durability of the construction structure and the quality of concrete. Although there are various methods for measuring the unit-water content, there are problems of time required for measurement, precision, and reproducibility. Recently, there is an FDR sensor capable of measuring moisture content in real time through an apparent dielectric constant change of electromagnetic waves. In addition, various artificial intelligence techniques that can non-linearly supplement the accuracy of FDR sensors are being studied. In this study, the accuracy of unit-water content measurement was compared and evaluated using machine learning and deep learning techniques after normalizing the data secured in concrete using frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) sensors used to measure soil moisture at home and abroad. The result of comparing the accuracy of machine learning and deep learning is judged to be excellent in the accuracy of deep learning, which can well express the nonlinear relationship between FDR sensor data and concrete unit-water content.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.313-326
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• 2023

The seismic safety of the shear wall structure can be assessed through seismic fragility analysis, which requires high computational costs in estimating seismic demands. Accordingly, machine learning methods have been applied to such fragility analyses in recent years to reduce the numerical analysis cost, but it still remains a challenging task. Therefore, this study uses the ensemble machine learning method to present an improved framework for developing a more accurate seismic demand model than the existing ones. To this end, a rank-based selection method that enables determining an excellent model among several single machine learning models is presented. In addition, an index that can evaluate the degree of overfitting/underfitting of each model for the selection of an excellent single model is suggested. Furthermore, based on the selected single machine learning model, we propose a method to derive a more accurate ensemble model based on the bagging method. As a result, the seismic demand model for which the proposed framework is applied shows about 3-17% better prediction performance than the existing single machine learning models. Finally, the seismic fragility obtained from the proposed framework shows better accuracy than the existing fragility methods.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.91 no.6
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• pp.583-589
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• 2024

Accurately predicting the strength of concrete is vital for ensuring the safety and durability of structures, thereby contributing to time and cost savings throughout the design and construction phases. The compressive strength of concrete is determined by various material factors, including the type of cement, composition ratios of concrete mixtures, curing time, and environmental conditions. While mix design establishes the proportions of each material for concrete, predicting strength before experimental measurement remains a challenging task. In this study, Abrams's law was chosen as a representative investigative approach to estimating concrete compressive strength. Abrams asserted that concrete compressive strength depends solely on the water-cement ratio and proposed a logarithmic linear relationship. However, Abrams's law is only applicable to concrete using cement as the sole binding material and may not be suitable for modern concrete mixtures. Therefore, this research aims to predict concrete compressive strength by applying various conventional regression analyses and machine learning methods. Six models were selected based on performance experiment data collected from various literature sources on different concrete mixtures. The models were assessed using Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination (R²) to identify the optimal model.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2747-2756
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• 2023

Reinforced Concrete (RC) shear walls are one of the civil structures in nuclear power plants to resist lateral loads such as earthquakes and wind loads effectively. Risk-informed and performance-based regulation in the nuclear industry requires considering possible accidents and determining desirable performance on structures. As a result, rather than predicting only the ultimate capacity of structures, the prediction of performances on structures depending on different damage states or various accident scenarios have increasingly needed. This study aims to develop machine-learning models predicting drifts of the RC shear walls according to the damage limit states. The damage limit states are divided into four categories: the onset of cracking, yielding of rebars, crushing of concrete, and structural failure. The data on the drift of shear walls at each damage state are collected from the existing studies, and four regression machine-learning models are used to train the datasets. In addition, the bagging ensemble method is applied to improve the accuracy of the individual machine-learning models. The developed models are to predict the drifts of shear walls consisting of various cross-sections based on designated damage limit states in advance and help to determine the repairing methods according to damage levels to shear walls.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.111-121
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• 2020

There has been increasing interest in UHPC (Ultra-High Performance Concrete) materials in recent years. Owing to the superior mechanical properties and durability, the UHPC has been widely used for the design of various types of structures. In this paper, machine learning based compressive strength prediction methods of the UHPC are proposed. Various regression-based machine learning models were built to train dataset. For train and validation, 110 data samples collected from the literatures were used. Because the proportion between the compressive strength and its composition is a highly nonlinear, more advanced regression models are demanded to obtain better results. The complex relationship between mixture proportion and concrete compressive strength can be predicted by using the selected regression method.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.367-378
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• 2024

This study evaluates the direct tensile strength of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) using tests. A total of 45 dogbone-shaped specimens are tested, with the test variables being the fiber volume fraction and notch length. The test results showed that the material properties of UHPC were largely dependent on the fiber volume fraction and compressive strength. When steel fibers with more than 1% fiber volume fraction are mixed in the manufacturing of UHPC, the tensile strength can be more than twice that of plain UHPC. In addition, the incorporation of steel fibers enabled the significant improvement of the initial cracking strength. However, the effect of the notch length on the tensile behavior was insignificant. An assessment of the direct tensile strength is conducted using machine-learning algorithms (ML). For evaluation of the direct tensile strength of UHPC using ML, a total of 98 test data, including 53 data from other research works and 45 data from this experimental program, were collected. In total, 67 data with a 70% confidence interval on a normal distribution curve were selected, with 47 data among 67 used for ML training and 20 data used for ML testing. As a result, the machine-learning algorithm with a steel fiber volume fraction predicted that the tensile strength has an average of 0.98 and the lowest values of regression evaluation metrics among analytical and ML-based models. It is considered that an ML-based model can help to predict a more accurate tensile strength of UHPC.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.373-381
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• 2023

Fly ash, granulated blast furnace slag, marble waste powder, etc. are just some of the by-products of other sectors that the construction industry is looking to include into the many types of concrete they produce. This research seeks to use surrogate machine learning methods to forecast the compressive strength of self-compacting concrete. The surrogate models were developed using Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), and Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) techniques. Compressive strength is used as the output variable, with nano silica content, cement content, coarse aggregate content, fine aggregate content, superplasticizer, curing duration, and water-binder ratio as input variables. Of the four models, GBM had the highest accuracy in determining the compressive strength of SCC. The concrete's compressive strength is worst predicted by GPR. Compressive strength of SCC with nano silica is found to be most affected by curing time and least by fine aggregate.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.275-283
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• 2024

Many school buildings are vulnerable to earthquakes because they were built before mandatory seismic design was applied. This study uses machine learning to develop an algorithm that rapidly constructs an optimal reinforcement scheme with simple information for non-ductile reinforced concrete school buildings built according to standard design drawings in the 1980s. We utilize a decision tree (DT) model that can conservatively predict the failure type of reinforced concrete columns through machine learning that rapidly determines the failure type of reinforced concrete columns with simple information, and through this, a methodology is developed to construct an optimal reinforcement scheme for the confinement ratio (CR) for ductility enhancement and the stiffness ratio (SR) for stiffness enhancement. By examining the failure types of columns according to changes in confinement ratio and stiffness ratio, we propose a retrofit scheme for school buildings with masonry walls and present the maximum applicable stiffness ratio and the allowable range of stiffness ratio increase for the minimum and maximum values of confinement ratio. This retrofit scheme construction methodology allows for faster construction than existing analysis methods.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.399-409
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• 2018

This paper demonstrates the potential application of machine learning algorithms for approximate prediction of the load and deflection capacities of the novel type of Laced Steel Concrete-Composite (LSCC) beams proposed by Anandavalli et al. (Engineering Structures 2012). Initially, global and local responses measured on LSCC beam specimen in an experiment are used to validate nonlinear FE model of the LSCC beams. The data for the machine learning algorithms is then generated using validated FE model for a range of values of the identified sensitive parameters. The performance of four well-known machine learning algorithms, viz., Support Vector Regression (SVR), Minimax Probability Machine Regression (MPMR), Relevance Vector Machine (RVM) and Multigene Genetic Programing (MGGP) for the approximate estimation of the load and deflection capacities are compared in terms of well-defined error indices. Through relative comparison of the estimated values, it is demonstrated that the algorithms explored in the present study provide a good alternative to expensive experimental testing and sophisticated numerical simulation of the response of LSCC beams. The load carrying and displacement capacity of the LSCC was predicted well by MGGP and MPMR, respectively.