Bond strength assessment of concrete-corroded rebar interface using artificial neutral network

Abstract

Bond strength assessment is important for reinforced concrete structures with rebar corrosion since the bond degradation can threaten the structural safety. In this study, to assess the bond strength in concrete-corroded rebar interface, one of the machine learning techniques, artificial neutral network (ANN), was utilized for the application. From existing literature, data related to the bond strength of concrete and corroded rebar were collected. The ANN model was applied to understand the factors on bond property degradation. For the input in the ANN model, the following factors were considered the relative bond strength: (1) corrosion level; (2) crack width; (3) cover-to-diameter ratio; and (4) concrete strength. For the cases with confinement (stirrups), (5) the diameter/stirrups spacing ratio was also considered. The assessment was conducted from input with single parameter to multiple parameters. The scaled feed-forward multi-layer perception ANN model with the error back-propagation algorithm of gradient descent and momentum was found to match the experimental and computed results. The correlation of each parameter to the bond strength degradation was clarified. In cases without confinement, the relative importance was (1) > (2) > (4) > (3), while it was (2) > (1) > (3) > (5) > (4) for the cases with confinement. © 2020 by the authors.