Investigation of fractional models of damping material by a neuroevolutionary approach.

• This research paper deals with a problem related to the damped materials involved in structural dynamics. • The problem considered in this paper involves a fractional-order damping coefficient in the form of fractional derivatives to present a better mathematical model of the vibration systems. • We have suggested a novel unsupervised machine learning procedure that first designs general solutions, with the help of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), for the fractional-order differential equation involving unknown decision weights. These weights are determined with the help of Fractional-Order Darwinian Particle Swarm Optimization (FO-DPSO) algorithm by setting a fitness function for each case. This research paper deals with a problem related to the damped materials contained in structural dynamics. The problem dealt with here involves a fractional-order damping coefficient in the form of fractional derivatives that present a better mathematical model of the vibration systems. Fractional derivatives are widely used to characterize the viscoelastic features in structural designs. Unlike the integer order differentiation, fractional-order derivatives consider local as well as the global evolution of the system. Therefore, fractional differential equations can be indicated as a reasonable choice for modeling certain physical phenomena, and to present more accurate mathematical solutions to real-world applications than the ordinary differential equations. We have proposed a novel unsupervised machine learning procedure that first designs general solutions, with the help of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), for the fractional-order differential equation containing unknown decision weights. These weights are worked out with the help of Fractional-Order Darwinian Particle Swarm Optimization (FO-DPSO) algorithm by setting a fitness function for each case. Results obtained from our simulations are better in the sense that they are overlapping with the analytical solutions available in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]