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Modeling and Analysis of Composite Materials and Structures in Civil Engineering

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Composites".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2025 | Viewed by 2586

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Interests: composite bridges; rapid evaluation of the structural status of bridge structures; safety evaluation; reinforcement of lifeline engineering structures
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Composite materials and structures are widely applied in civil engineering, such as in bridges, buildings, pipelines, etc. The modeling and analysis of these materials and structures are vital for their integrity and performance evaluation. In terms of composite materials, the fracture, size effect and other mechanical properties are evaluated both via experiments and numeric analyses. At the same time, with respect to the infrastructures such as bridges and pipelines, the integrity and seismic risk are usually evaluated using numeric approaches. This Special Issue explores the latest research in the modeling and analysis of composite materials and structures in civil engineering, including FRP, cement materials, steel–concrete composite structures, bridges, buildings, pipelines and their related integrity and risk analysis.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Applied Sciences.

Dr. Zhihua Xiong
Prof. Dr. Haohui Xin
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • strength
  • damage
  • fatigue
  • numeric modeling
  • structural performance
  • risk
  • machine learning
  • bridge
  • FRP
  • composite structures

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3954 KiB  
Article
Prediction of Rock Unloading Strength Based on PSO-XGBoost Hybrid Models
by Baohua Liu, Hang Lin, Yifan Chen and Chaoyi Yang
Materials 2024, 17(17), 4214; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17174214 - 26 Aug 2024
Viewed by 468
Abstract
Rock excavation is essentially an unloading behavior, and its mechanical properties are significantly different from those under loading conditions. In response to the current deficiencies in the peak strength prediction of rocks under unloading conditions, this study proposes a hybrid learning model for [...] Read more.
Rock excavation is essentially an unloading behavior, and its mechanical properties are significantly different from those under loading conditions. In response to the current deficiencies in the peak strength prediction of rocks under unloading conditions, this study proposes a hybrid learning model for the intelligent prediction of the unloading strength of rocks using simple parameters in rock unloading tests. The XGBoost technique was used to construct a model, and the PSO-XGBoost hybrid model was developed by employing particle swarm optimization (PSO) to refine the XGBoost parameters for better prediction. In order to verify the validity and accuracy of the proposed hybrid model, 134 rock sample sets containing various common rock types in rock excavation were collected from international and Chinese publications for the purpose of modeling, and the rock unloading strength prediction results were compared with those obtained by the Random Forest (RF) model, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) model, the XGBoost (XGBoost) model, and the Grid Search Method-based XGBoost (GS-XGBoost) model. Meanwhile, five statistical indicators, including the coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), mean square error (MSE), and root mean square error (RMSE), were calculated to check the acceptability of these models from a quantitative perspective. A review of the comparison results revealed that the proposed PSO-XGBoost hybrid model provides a better performance than the others in predicting rock unloading strength. Finally, the importance of the effect of each input feature on the generalization performance of the hybrid model was assessed. The insights garnered from this research offer a substantial reference for tunnel excavation design and other representative projects. Full article
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17 pages, 9791 KiB  
Article
Fatigue Life Prediction Model of FRP–Concrete Interface Based on Gene Expression Programming
by Zhimei Zhang and Yinglong Huo
Materials 2024, 17(3), 690; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17030690 - 31 Jan 2024
Viewed by 730
Abstract
Under fatigue loading, the interfacial fatigue life of fiber-reinforced polymer(FRP)–concrete is an important index for the analysis of the fatigue performance of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with FRP materials and the evaluation of the reinforcement effect. To solve the problems of the inconsistent [...] Read more.
Under fatigue loading, the interfacial fatigue life of fiber-reinforced polymer(FRP)–concrete is an important index for the analysis of the fatigue performance of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with FRP materials and the evaluation of the reinforcement effect. To solve the problems of the inconsistent and limited accuracy of existing fatigue life prediction models, gene expression programming (GEP) was used to study the interfacial fatigue life of FRP–concrete. Firstly, 219 sets of interfacial fatigue test data were collected, which included two kinds of reinforcement methods, namely, externally bonded (EB) reinforcement and near-surface-mounted (NSM) reinforcement; secondly, Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the key factors affecting the fatigue life, and then GEP was used to explore the influence of different input forms on the prediction accuracy of the model. Fatigue life calculation formulas applicable to the two kinds of reinforcement methods, i.e., EB and NSM, were established, and a specific calculation formula was established. The model was subjected to parameter sensitivity analysis and variable importance analysis and was found to reflect the intrinsic relationship between the fatigue life and various factors. Finally, the GEP model was compared with the models proposed by other researchers. Five statistical indices, such as the coefficient of determination and the average absolute error, were selected to assess the model, and the results show that the GEP model has higher prediction accuracy than other models, with a coefficient of determination of 0.819, and indicators such as the average absolute error are also lower than those of the rest of the models. Full article
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17 pages, 6198 KiB  
Article
Determining Compressed Concrete Element Limit States Based on the Widths and Depths of Cracks Caused by Transverse Deformations
by Iakov Iskhakov, Ilya Frolov and Yuri Ribakov
Materials 2024, 17(2), 355; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17020355 - 10 Jan 2024
Viewed by 715
Abstract
In the modern theory of compressed concrete elements, the most attention is paid to longitudinal deformations, whereas transverse ones are rarely considered and just within Poisson’s coefficient limits (i.e., elastic concrete behavior in the transverse direction). However, transverse deformations significantly develop beyond the [...] Read more.
In the modern theory of compressed concrete elements, the most attention is paid to longitudinal deformations, whereas transverse ones are rarely considered and just within Poisson’s coefficient limits (i.e., elastic concrete behavior in the transverse direction). However, transverse deformations significantly develop beyond the limits corresponding to Poisson’s coefficient, where they lead to longitudinal crack initiation and development. In-depth experimental and numerical investigations of transverse deformations in the inelastic stage showed that it is necessary to consider crack propagation. The present study proposes simultaneous consideration of longitudinal and transverse deformations, as well as the appearance of cracks and their widths and depths. This allowed us to obtain a complete compressed concrete element behavior pattern at all performance stages in two types of limit states (based on longitudinal and transverse deformations). Consequently, new ultimate limit states by the depth and width of cracks caused by transverse deformations are proposed to be included in modern design practices and codes. Full article
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