Machine Learning Approach for Prediction of Lateral Confinement Coefficient of CFRP-Wrapped RC Columns

Abstract

Materials have a significant role in creating structures that are durable, valuable and possess symmetry engineering properties. Premium quality materials establish an exemplary environment for every situation. Among the composite materials in constructions, carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) is one of best materials which provides symmetric superior strength and stiffness to reinforced concrete structures. For the structure to be confining, the region jeopardizes seismic loads and axial force, specifically on columns, with limited proportion of ties or stirrups implemented to loftier ductility and brittleness. The failure and buckling of columns with CFRP has been studied by many researchers and is ongoing to determine ways columns can be retrofitted. This article symmetrically integrates two disciplines, specifically materials (CFRP) and computer application (machine learning). Technically, predicting the lateral confinement coefficient (Ks) for reinforced concrete columns in designs plays a vital role. Therefore, machine learning models like genetic programming (GP), minimax probability machine regression (MPMR) and deep neural networks (DNN) were utilized to determine the Ks value of CFRP-wrapped RC columns. In order to compute Ks value, parameters such as column width, length, corner radius, thickness of CFRP, compressive strength of the unconfined concrete and elastic modulus of CFRP act as stimulants. The adopted machine learning models utilized 293 datasets of square and rectangular RC columns for the prediction of Ks. Among the developed models, GP and MPMR provide encouraging performances with higher R values of 0.943 and 0.941; however, the statistical indices proved that the GP model outperforms other models with better precision (R2 = 0.89) and less errors (RMSE = 0.056 and NMBE = 0.001). Based on the evaluation of statistical indices, rank analysis was carried out, in which GP model secured more points and ranked top.