Machine Learning Prediction of Residual Mechanical Strength of Hybrid-Fiber-Reinforced Self-consolidating Concrete Exposed to Elevated Temperature

Abstract

Establishing the engineering properties of cement-based composites at elevated temperature requires costly, laborious, and time-consuming experimental work. Data-driven models can provide a robust and efficient alternative. In this study, extreme learning machine (ELM), support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN), and decision tree (DT) models were trained to predict the residual compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural strengths of hybrid fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete (HFR-SCC) exposed to high temperatures. Mixtures including macro and micro steel fibers, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and polypropylene (PP) were subjected to different temperature levels, leading to an experimental database of 360 specimens. Eleven input parameters including cement, fly ash, water, sand, gravel, fiber type, water reducer, and temperature were deployed. The residual mechanical strengths were targeted as output parameters. ANOVA was used to explore the influence of input parameters. Temperature was found to be the most influential parameter. Dataset consisting of 114 instances was retrieved from pertinent literature and used along with the authors' experimentally generated dataset for residual strength prediction. The experimental results were compared with predictions of ELM, SVM, ANN, and DT. ELM achieved superior performance and can offer a robust tool for predicting the residual mechanical strengths of HFR-SCC upon exposure to high temperature.