Aug 2026· Kufa journal of Engineering· 0 citations· 14 references
Abstract
Global demand for sustainable construction materials and concerns about environmental pollution from by-products of manufacturing industries have intensified research for viable alternatives to aggregates in concrete production. This research investigated steel slag aggregate (ssa) as a partial replacement for coarse aggregates. Samples of 150 mm concrete cubes and 100 x 100 x 500 mm prisms were prepared at a 1:2:4 mix ratio and a water-cement ratio of 0.5, with ssa replacing coarse aggregates at 0%, 15%, 30%, 45%, and 60% by weight for 7, 14, and 28 days compressive and flexural strength tests. In addition, a validated random forest (rf) and multiple linear regression (mlr) algorithm were developed to predict the compressive strength of samples. The analysis of ssa for x-ray fluorescence (xrf) revealed a high 34.125% silicon dioxide (sio₂) composition and a minimum of 0.196% for strontium oxide (sro), a specific gravity of 3.07, 1680 kg/m³ bulk density, 21.28% and 8.37% aggregate crushing value and impact value were evaluated, respectively. The 15%, 30%, 45%, and 60% ssa replacement samples exhibited improved strengths of 15.63 n/mm², 17.07 n/mm², 18.30 n/mm², and 19.10 n/mm², while the flexural strengths increased up to 45% ssa (4.45 n/mm²) before declining at 60% (3.85 n/mm²). The mean absolute error (mae), mean square error (mse) and a coefficient of determination (r²) for rf were 1.20, 2.07 and 0.85, while mlr recorded 1.46, 3.77 and 0.72, respectively. The xrf suggests an improved aggregate bonding potential, and the physical characterisation revealed that ssa was within the acceptable limits for structural applications. The compressive and flexural strengths increased with ssa content up to 45%, after which strength properties declined, offering optimal mechanical performance. The mlr achieved a robust prediction accuracy with an r² value of 0.85. In conclusion, the research supports the potential of industrial by-products in promoting greener and more cost-effective construction practices
The modern construction industry faces significant challenges in developing sustainable concrete materials while maintaining structural quality requirements. Conventional trial-and-error methods for concrete mix design are time-consuming, costly, and often result in high variability in concrete quality. This study presents an integrated framework that combines machine learning techniques for concrete compressive strength prediction with genetic algorithm optimization to determine optimal mix compositions containing fly ash and blast furnace slag. Two predictive models were developed using the UCI Machine Learning Repository concrete dataset comprising 1,030 samples: Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Ensemble and Support Vector Regression (SVR). The ANN model demonstrated superior performance, achieving R² values ranging from 0.7475 to 0.8372, RMSE values between 6.11 and 7.94 MPa, and classification accuracy of 86.92% for concrete quality categorization across three classes (Class I: <20 MPa, Class II: 20-35 MPa, Class III: >35 MPa). In comparison, the SVR model achieved competitive but slightly lower performance with R² values of 0.7491-0.8378 and classification accuracy of 80.37%. The stability and generalizability of both models were confirmed through five-fold cross-validation. Subsequently, genetic algorithm optimization was applied to determine optimal mix compositions for each quality class while ensuring compliance with Indonesian National Standards (SNI 2847:2019, SNI 2461:2011, and SNI 8297:2016). The optimization process successfully produced concrete mix designs that achieved target compressive strengths of 14.95 MPa for Class I, 27.48 MPa for Class II, and 59.99 MPa for Class III. This framework demonstrates significant potential for developing sustainable concrete with optimal performance while meeting applicable technical standards, thereby contributing to a reduced carbon footprint in the construction industry through strategic utilization of supplementary cementitious materials.
The increasing demand for sustainable construction materials has accelerated the incorporation of industrial by-products such as fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), silica fume, rice husk ash, marble dust, and waste glass powder into composite concrete. These supplementary cementitious materials not only reduce environmental impacts associated with cement production but also enhance specific mechanical and durability properties of concrete. However, predicting the mechanical performance of composite concrete remains a complex challenge due to the nonlinear interactions among constituent materials, curing conditions, mix proportions, and environmental factors. Recent advancements in machine learning (ML) have provided innovative solutions for accurately predicting concrete properties while minimizing experimental costs and time.
This study presents a comprehensive review and conceptual framework for machine learning-based prediction of mechanical properties of composite concrete incorporating industrial by-products. A systematic examination of recent studies published between 2018 and 2026 is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various ML algorithms, including Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Gradient Boosting Machines (GBM), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Deep Learning models. The findings reveal that ensemble learning techniques frequently outperform traditional statistical methods, achieving prediction accuracies exceeding 90% in several applications. Furthermore, the review identifies critical challenges such as data scarcity, lack of standardized datasets, model interpretability issues, and limited real-world implementation.
The study proposes a conceptual framework integrating sustainable concrete design with advanced machine learning methodologies. It highlights future research opportunities involving explainable artificial intelligence, hybrid optimization algorithms, digital twins, and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled monitoring systems. The research contributes to sustainable construction practices by demonstrating how intelligent prediction models can support material optimization, resource conservation, and reduced carbon emissions in the construction industry.
Keywords: Machine Learning, Composite Concrete, Industrial By-Products, Mechanical Properties Prediction, Sustainable Construction, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Materials
Ruchita K. Ingole· International Journal of Cre...· 0 citations
The increasing demand for sustainable construction materials has led to the selection of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to minimize the environmental burden of Portland cement manufacturing. This paper experimentally investigates the effect of varied volume of fly ash replacement on some fresh, mechanical and physical properties of M25-grade concrete and also develops machine learning-based models to predict performance. In this study, examining the effect of different fly ash replacement levels (0%-50%) on hardened concrete properties, six distinct concrete mixes were designed with constant water-to-cementitious material ratio (0.48) and 144 cylindrical specimens were casted from all mixtures to determine compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, workability and unit weight at age of 7, 14 and 28 days respectively. Although increasing fly ash content improved workability, high replacement levels reduced compressive and splitting tensile strength because of cement dilution and the relatively slow early-age pozzolanic reaction of Class F fly ash. Containing approximately 20–30% replacement levels, the best all-round performance with moderate compressive and tensile strength alongside cement mass reduction. It also employs the Random Forest and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) regression models to predict compressive strength of a mixture from its variables. The prediction performances of the XGBoost model were more accurately represented (R² = 0.951; RMSE=1.128 MPa; MAE=0.966 MPa). The findings demonstrate the potential of ensemble-learning models to support preliminary fly ash concrete mix evaluation, although validation using larger independent datasets is necessary.
Sustainable concrete incorporating waste glass materials has emerged as a promising solution to reduce environmental impacts associated with cement production and natural aggregate depletion. Accurate prediction of compressive strength (CS) is essential for optimizing such mixtures and ensuring structural reliability. In this study, five machine learning models: Random Forest (RF), K-Nearest-Neighbors (KNN), Adaptive-Boosting (AdaBoost), Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM), and Extreme-Gradient-Boosting (XGBoost) were developed and optimized using Grid Search to predict the CS of concrete containing glass powder (GP) and glass sand (GS). A dataset of 270 experimental samples was utilized, incorporating eight input parameters, including curing duration, cement content, GP, GS, water, density, sand, and basalt. Among the models, LightGBM demonstrated superior predictive performance during testing, achieving a determination coefficient (R² = 0.964) and Root-Mean-Square-Error (RMSE = 2.05 MPa), followed by XGBoost (R² = 0.955) and RF (R² = 0.953). In contrast, KNN and AdaBoost exhibited comparatively lower performance. SHAP and Partial Dependence Plot (PDP) analyses identified curing duration and cement content as the most influential parameters, while water and GP exhibited negative effects on CS. To enhance practical applicability, the LightGBM model was deployed through a user-friendly GUI, enabling rapid and reliable prediction of CS and providing an accurate, interpretable, and practical decision-support tool for sustainable concrete mixture design.
Abdelrahman Shams, S. R. Wani, Eman Mousa et al.· Scientific Reports· 0 citations
Compressive strength is the single most important design parameter governing the safety, serviceability, and economy of concrete structures, yet its determination through standard 7-, 14-, or 28-day destructive cylinder/cube testing is slow, costly, and unable to assess concrete already cast in place. This study develops and evaluates a Random Forest (RF) regression model to predict the compressive strength of concrete directly from eight standard mix-design parameters — cement, blast furnace slag, fly ash, water, superplasticizer, coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, and curing age — using Yeh's (1998) benchmark dataset of 1,030 experimentally tested concrete mixtures. Following data cleaning, exploratory correlation analysis, an 80:20 train-test split, and five-fold GridSearchCV hyperparameter tuning, the optimized Random Forest model is benchmarked against Linear Regression, Ridge Regression, and Support Vector Regression using the coefficient of determination (R²), Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The Random Forest model achieves the strongest predictive performance of the models tested, substantially outperforming the linear baselines and confirming that concrete strength development is governed by non-linear interactions among mix constituents. Feature importance analysis further shows that curing age and cement content are the dominant predictors, while water content exerts a clear negative influence consistent with Abrams' Law, and coarse/fine aggregates contribute comparatively little, consistent with their role as largely inert fillers. These findings demonstrate that Random Forest regression offers a fast, accurate, and interpretable, non-destructive alternative to conventional strength testing, with practical value for mix-design optimization, quality control, and early-stage structural decision-making.
M. Selvakumar, S. Geetha, P. K. Kumar et al.· International journal of com...· 0 citations
The cement industry plays a crucial role in global CO2 emissions. As demand for cement continues to rise, innovative solutions are required to mitigate its environmental impact. Over a decade ago, the Paris Agreement (2015) established clear targets for reducing global carbon emissions. In response, the construction industry has adopted strategies such as incorporating agro-waste by-products, including sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA), as sustainable alternatives to cement and fine aggregate in concrete production. However, variations in material characteristics and pozzolanic reactivity across mix designs make predicting the compressive strength of SCBA concrete using conventional trial-and-error methods challenging. This study explores the use of four Optuna-guided machine learning (ML) models, random forest, support vector regression, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and k-nearest neighbors, to predict the compressive strength of SCBA concrete using a dataset of 844 data points extracted from experimental studies published between 2015 and 2025. Model development and hyperparameter optimization were performed using Optuna, an open-source Python framework, to minimize prediction error and enhance model accuracy. Among the models, XGBoost achieved the highest predictive performance, with a R2 value of 0.966. Interpretability techniques, including feature importance analysis, Shapley additive explanations, and partial dependence plots, revealed the relative influence of individual features on model prediction, identifying the water-to-binder ratio and curing age as the most dominant factors. These findings demonstrate the reliability of ML models for data-driven design of SCBA concrete and highlight their contribution to advancing sustainable construction materials in support of sustainable development goal (SDG) 13 on climate action.
Isaac Ajibola Fakoya, A. B. Folorunsho, Seungwon Kim et al.· International Journal of Con...· 0 citations
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