Prediction of creep in concrete using genetic programming hybridized with ANN

Time dependent strain due to creep is a significant factor in structural design. Multi-gene genetic programming (MGGP) and artificial neural network (ANN) are used to develop two models for prediction of creep compliance in concrete. The first model was developed by MGGP technique and the second model by hybridized MGGP-ANN. In the MGGP-ANN, the ANN is working in parallel with MGGP to predict errors in MGGP model. A total of 187 experimental data sets that contain 4242 data points are filtered from the NU-ITI database. These data are used in developing the MGGP and MGGP-ANN models. These models contain six input variables which are: average compressive strength at 28 days, relative humidity, volume to surface ratio, cement type, age at start of loading and age at the creep measurement. Practical equation based on MGGP was developed. A parametric study carried out with a group of hypothetical data generated among the range of data used to check the generalization ability of MGGP and MGGP-ANN models. To confirm validity of MGGP and MGGP-ANN models; two creep prediction code models (ACI209 and CEB), two empirical models (B3 and GL 2000) are used to compare their results with NUITI database.