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Highlights • The compressive strength of lightweight self-compacting concrete was modelled intelligently. • Beetle antennae search algorithm was firstly used to tune hyper-parameters of random forest. • The importance of different input variables was measured. Abstract Self-compacting concrete (SCC) can achieve compaction into every part of the formwork through its own weight without any segregation of the coarse aggregate. Lightweight concrete (LWC) can reduce the dead load of the structure by incorporating the lightweight aggregate (LWA). In recent years, more and more studies have focused on combining the advantages of SCC and LWC to produce lightweight self-compacting concrete (LWSCC). As one of the most important mechanical properties, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) values need to be tested before field application of this new material. However, conducting UCS tests with multiple influencing variables is time-consuming and costly. To address this issue, this paper proposed, for the first time, a beetle antennae search (BAS) algorithm based random forest (RF) model to accurately and effectively predict the UCS of LWSCC. This model was developed and verified using data from LWSCC laboratory formulation. Results show that BAS was efficient in searching the optimum hyper-parameters of RF. The proposed BAS-RF model achieved high predictive accuracy indicated by a high correlation coefficient (0.97). In addition, by measuring the variable importance, we conclude that temperature was the most sensitive to UCS development, followed by scoria content and water-to-binder (w/b) ratio, while UCS was less sensitive to fiber content. This pioneering work provides a simple and convenient method for evaluating UCS of LWSCC at varying temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel method was proposed for predicting permeability and unconfined compressive strength of pervious concrete. • 270 samples were prepared for building the dataset. • Permeable and mechanical properties of pervious concrete were elucidated. • Beetle antennae search was firstly used to tune the hyper-parameters of support vector regression. • The support vector regression model tuned by beetle antennae search algorithm has high prediction accuracy. Pervious concrete is a widely used construction material thanks to its good drainage characteristics. Before application, its most important properties, i.e. the permeability coefficient (PC) and 28-day unconfined compressive strength (UCS) are required to be tested. However, conducting PC and UCS tests with multiple influencing variables is time-consuming and costly. To address this issue, this paper proposed, for the first time, an evolved support vector regression (ESVR) tuned by beetle antennae search (BAS) to accurately and effectively predict the PC and UCS of pervious concrete. To prepare the dataset of the ESVR model, 270 specimens in total were prepared and casted in a controlled environment in the laboratory. The water-to-cement (w/c) ratio, aggregate-to-cement (a/c) ratio, and aggregate size were selected as the crucial influencing variables for the inputs, while PC and UCS were the outputs of this model. The results indicate that both the PC and UCS firstly increased and then decreased with increasing w/c ratio. As the a/c ratio increased, PC increased, while UCS decreased. Moreover, BAS is more reliable and efficient than random hyper-parameter selection for hyper-parameter tuning. A low root-mean-square error (RMSE) and high correlation coefficient (R) indicate a relatively high predictive capability of the proposed ESVR model. The sensitivity analysis (SA) suggests the a/c ratio and aggregate size were the most sensitive variables for UCS and PC, respectively. This pioneering work provides a simple and convenient method for evaluating PC and UCS of pervious concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The coalcrete, a new supporting material produced by jet grouting (JG) technique was firstly studied for improving soft coal mass to support roadways in Guobei coal mine, China. Young's modulus is an essential indicator to evaluate the deformation-resisting ability of coalcretes. In this study, for determining Young's modulus of coalcretes efficiently, an intelligent technique was proposed using the support vector machine (SVM) and beetle antennae search (BAS). The hyper-parameters of SVM were firstly tuned by BAS, and then the SVM-BAS model with optimum hyper-parameters was employed to model the non-linear relationship between the inputs (coal content, water content, cement content, and curing time) and output (Young's modulus). By combining these variables, 360 coalcrete samples in total were prepared and tested for establishing the dataset. The results show that BAS is more reliable and efficient than the trial–and–error tuning method. Moreover, by comparison with other baseline models such as back-propagation neural network (BPNN), logistic regression (LR) and multiple linear regression (MLR), the optimized SVM-BAS model is more reliable, accurate and less time consuming for predicting Young's modulus of coalcretes. Besides, by conducting sensitivity analysis (SA), the importance of different input variables was determined. This pioneering work provides guidelines for predicting Young's modulus of coalcretes and designing proper JG parameters in engineering applications. Highlights • The jet grouting technique was firstly utilized in underground coal mine for generating coalcrete to reinforce the roadway stability • A total of 360 specimens were tested to determine the deformation-resisting ability of coalcrete. • A support vector machine model was proposed for predicting Young's modulus of coalcrete. • The hyperparameters of support vector machine were tuned by beetle antennae search algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This investigation studied the coalcrete, a new supporting material produced by jet grouting (JG) for supporting surrounding coal seams. For support design, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the coalcrete is an essential parameter to evaluate the jet grouting effect in coal mines. In this study, an intelligent technique was proposed for predicting the UCS of the coalcrete by combining back propagation neural network (BPNN) and beetle antennae search (BAS). The architecture of BPNN was first tuned by BAS, and then, the optimized BPNN‐BAS model was subsequently used for nonlinear relationship modeling. Several crucial influencing variables including water‐cement ratio, coal‐grout ratio, and curing time were selected as the inputs. By combining these variables, 360 coalcrete samples were prepared in a controlled laboratory environment and tested for establishing the dataset. The results demonstrate that BAS can tune the BPNN architecture more efficiently compared with random selection. Moreover, in comparison with multiple regression (MLR) and logistic regression (LR), and support vector machine (SVM), the optimized BPNN‐BAS model is more reliable and accurate for predicting coalcrete strength. Sensitivity analysis (SA) was used to obtain the variable importance, and the results demonstrate that curing time affects the UCS of the coalcrete most strongly, followed by water‐cement ratio and coal‐grout ratio. The success of this study provides an accurate and brief approach to coalcrete strength prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]