Modeling the compressive strength of eco-friendly self-compacting concrete incorporating ground granulated blast furnace slag using soft computing techniques

Rabar H Faraj; Azad A Mohammed; Khalid M Omer

doi:10.1007/s11356-022-20889-5

Modeling the compressive strength of eco-friendly self-compacting concrete incorporating ground granulated blast furnace slag using soft computing techniques

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Oct;29(47):71338-71357. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-20889-5. Epub 2022 May 21.

Authors

Rabar H Faraj^{1

2}, Azad A Mohammed³, Khalid M Omer⁴

Affiliations

¹ Civil Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. rabar.faraj@uoh.edu.iq.
² Civil Engineering Department, University of Halabja, Halabja, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. rabar.faraj@uoh.edu.iq.
³ Civil Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

PMID: 35596861
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-20889-5

Abstract

Concern regarding global climate change and its detrimental effects on society demands the building sector, one of the major contributors to global warming. Reducing cement usage is a significant challenge for the concrete industry; achieving this objective can help reduce global carbon dioxide emissions. Replacing the cement in concrete with by-product ashes is a promising approach for reducing the embodied carbon in concrete and improving some of its properties. Among different by-product ashes, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) is a viable option to produce sustainable self-compacting concrete (SCC). Compressive strength (CS), on the other hand, is an essential characteristic among other evaluated properties. As a result, establishing trustworthy models to forecast the CS of SCC is critical to saving cost, time, and energy. Furthermore, it provides helpful instruction for planning building projects and determining the best time to remove the formwork. In this study, four alternative models were suggested to predict the CS of SCC mixes produced by GGBFS: the artificial neural network (ANN), nonlinear model (NLR), linear relationship model (LR), and multi-logistic model (MLR). To do so, an extensive set of data consisting of about 200 mixtures were extracted and analyzed to develop the models, and various mixture proportions and curing times were considered input variables. To test the effectiveness of the suggested models, several statistical evaluations including determination coefficient (R²), mean absolute error (MAE), scatter index (SI), root mean squared error (RMSE), and objective (OBJ) value were utilized. In comparison to other models, the ANN model performed better to forecast the CS of SCC mixes incorporating GGBFS. The RMSE, MAE, OBJ, and R² values for this model were 4.73 MPa, 2.3 MPa, 3.4 MPa, and 0.955, respectively.

Keywords: Compressive strength; Curing time; Ground granulated blast furnace slag; Modeling; Self-compacting concrete; Sensitivity.