• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.5
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• pp.647-661
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• 2023

It is recognized that the installation of energy dissipation devices, such as the tuned mass damper (TMD), decreases the dynamic response of structures, however, the best parameters of each device persist hard to determine. Unlike many works that perform only a deterministic optimization, this work proposes a complete methodology to minimize the dynamic response of footbridges by optimizing the parameters of multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMD) taking into account uncertainties present in the parameters of the structure and also of the human excitation. For application purposes, a steel footbridge, based on a real structure, is studied. Three different scenarios for the MTMD are simulated. The proposed robust optimization problem is solved via the Circle-Inspired Optimization Algorithm (CIOA), a novel and efficient metaheuristic algorithm recently developed by the authors. The objective function is to minimize the mean maximum vertical displacement of the footbridge, whereas the design variables are the stiffness and damping constants of the MTMD. The results showed the excellent capacity of the proposed methodology, reducing the mean maximum vertical displacement by more than 36% and in a computational time about 9% less than using a classical genetic algorithm. The results obtained by the proposed methodology are also compared with results obtained through traditional TMD design methods, showing again the best performance of the proposed optimization method. Finally, an analysis of the maximum vertical acceleration showed a reduction of more than 91% for the three scenarios, leading the footbridge to acceleration values below the recommended comfort limits. Hence, the proposed methodology could be employed to optimize MTMD, improving the design of footbridges.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.577-594
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• 2023

Engineered cementitious composites with calcined clay limestone cement (LC³-ECC) as a kind of green, low-carbon and high toughness concrete, has recently received significant investigation. However, the complicated relationship between potential influential factors and LC³-ECC compressive strength makes the prediction of LC³-ECC compressive strength difficult. Regarding this, the machine learning-based prediction models for the compressive strength of LC³-ECC concrete is firstly proposed and developed. Models combine three novel meta-heuristic algorithms (golden jackal optimization algorithm, butterfly optimization algorithm and whale optimization algorithm) with support vector regression (SVR) to improve the accuracy of prediction. A new dataset about LC³-ECC compressive strength was integrated based on 156 data from previous studies and used to develop the SVR-based models. Thirteen potential factors affecting the compressive strength of LC³-ECC were comprehensively considered in the model. The results show all hybrid SVR prediction models can reach the Coefficient of determination (R²) above 0.95 for the testing set and 0.97 for the training set. Radar and Taylor plots also show better overall prediction performance of the hybrid SVR models than several traditional machine learning techniques, which confirms the superiority of the three proposed methods. The successful development of this predictive model can provide scientific guidance for LC³-ECC materials and further apply to such low-carbon, sustainable cement-based materials.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.61-73
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• 2021

Metaheuristic search methods have been developed to solve problems with a range of purpose functions in situations lacking information and time constraints. In this study, the Hybrid Vision Correction Algorithm (HVCA), which enhances the performance of the Vision Correction Algorithm (VCA), was developed. The HVCA has applied two methods to improve the performance of VCA. The first method changes the parameters required by the user for self-adaptive parameters. The second method, the CGS structure of the Exponential Bandwidth Harmony Search With a Centralized Global Search (EBHS-CGS), was added to the HVCA. The HVCA consists of two structures: CGS and VCA. To use the two structures, a method was applied to increase the probability of selecting the structure with the optimal value as it was performed. The optimization problem was applied to determine the performance of the HVCA, and the results were compared with Harmony Search (HS), Improved Harmony Search (IHS), and VCA. The HVCA improved the number of times to find the optimal value during 100 repetitions compared to HS, IHS, and VCA. Moreover, the HVCA reduced the Number of Function Evaluations (NFEs). Therefore, the performance of the HVCA has been improved.