Neural-network-based approach to predict the deflection of plain, steel-reinforced, and bamboo-reinforced concrete beams from experimental data

The necessity of providing low-cost housing to economically weaker sections of society has been recognised by the national government of India. In mountainous areas, the use of locally available construction material, such as bamboo, as concrete reinforcement has increased due its easy availability and economic benefit. However, due to the inadequate codal provisions for the design and detailing of bamboo-reinforced structures, evaluating the serviceability criteria for their deflection behaviour under different loads is difficult. Furthermore, factors such as bond failure between reinforcement and concrete, shrinkage and corrosion of reinforcing material, and uncertainty in material strength make the prediction of deflection even more cumbersome. This study presents an artificial neural network (ANN)-based method modelled using MATLAB for predicting the deflection behaviour of three types of beams, namely plain, steel-reinforced, and bamboo-reinforced beams. Experimental investigation is conducted to record data at regular load increments for the aforementioned three beam typologies fabricated in the laboratory under two-point loading for 28 days. A total of 122 laboratory test data are recorded for modelling the ANN. The used approach involves predicting the relationship among the applied load, tensile strength of the reinforcement, percentage (amount) of reinforcement (taken as input), and deflection of the beam (obtained as output). The present ANN approach exhibits gives satisfactory performance (coefficient of determination \((R^2) = 0.9983\) and mean square error = 0.00049) in predicting the deflection behaviour of beams. Hence, the ANN approach can be used as an efficient and robust tool in predicting serviceability behavior of different types of reinforced concrete beams.