Modeling the mechanical behavior of railway ballast using artificial neural networks

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 1144-1152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed A Shahin ◽  
Buddhima Indraratna

Ballast is one of the most commonly used construction materials in railway tracks. Under heavy train loads, ballast is subjected to a high stress level that is always associated with significant track deformation. Consequently, an accurate prediction of the mechanical behavior of ballast under static and dynamic loading conditions is important for the stability of railway tracks. In this paper, the feasibility of using artificial neural networks (ANNs) for modeling the mechanical behavior of railway ballast under static loading is investigated. The database used for the development of the ANN model is obtained from selected literature and comprises a series of 29 large-scale drained triaxial compression tests conducted on three types of commonly used ballast (i.e., basalt, dolomite, and granite). Predictions from the ANN model are compared with the results of experimental tests and with those obtained from the hardening-soil constitutive model in PLAXIS finite-element code. The results indicate that the ANN model is able to accurately predict the stress–strain and volume change behavior of ballast. The plastic dilation and contraction of ballast at various confining pressures and the strain-hardening and postpeak strain-softening behavior of ballast are also well simulated.Key words: ballast, modeling, neural networks, prediction, railway, triaxial tests.

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1070
Author(s):  
Abdul Gani Abdul Jameel

The self-learning capabilities of artificial neural networks (ANNs) from large datasets have led to their deployment in the prediction of various physical and chemical phenomena. In the present work, an ANN model was developed to predict the yield sooting index (YSI) of oxygenated fuels using the functional group approach. A total of 265 pure compounds comprising six chemical classes, namely paraffins (n and iso), olefins, naphthenes, aromatics, alcohols, and ethers, were dis-assembled into eight constituent functional groups, namely paraffinic CH3 groups, paraffinic CH2 groups, paraffinic CH groups, olefinic –CH=CH2 groups, naphthenic CH-CH2 groups, aromatic C-CH groups, alcoholic OH groups, and ether O groups. These functional groups, in addition to molecular weight and branching index, were used as inputs to develop the ANN model. A neural network with two hidden layers was used to train the model using the Levenberg–Marquardt (ML) training algorithm. The developed model was tested with 15% of the random unseen data points. A regression coefficient (R2) of 0.99 was obtained when the experimental values were compared with the predicted YSI values from the test set. An average error of 3.4% was obtained, which is less than the experimental uncertainty associated with most reported YSI measurements. The developed model can be used for YSI prediction of hydrocarbon fuels containing alcohol and ether-based oxygenates as additives with a high degree of accuracy.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2332
Author(s):  
Cecilia Martinez-Castillo ◽  
Gonzalo Astray ◽  
Juan Carlos Mejuto

Different prediction models (multiple linear regression, vector support machines, artificial neural networks and random forests) are applied to model the monthly global irradiation (MGI) from different input variables (latitude, longitude and altitude of meteorological station, month, average temperatures, among others) of different areas of Galicia (Spain). The models were trained, validated and queried using data from three stations, and each best model was checked in two independent stations. The results obtained confirmed that the best methodology is the ANN model which presents the lowest RMSE value in the validation and querying phases 1226 kJ/(m2∙day) and 1136 kJ/(m2∙day), respectively, and predict conveniently for independent stations, 2013 kJ/(m2∙day) and 2094 kJ/(m2∙day), respectively. Given the good results obtained, it is convenient to continue with the design of artificial neural networks applied to the analysis of monthly global irradiation.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Fernando A. N. Silva ◽  
João M. P. Q. Delgado ◽  
Rosely S. Cavalcanti ◽  
António C. Azevedo ◽  
Ana S. Guimarães ◽  
...  

The work presents the results of an experimental campaign carried out on concrete elements in order to investigate the potential of using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to estimate the compressive strength based on relevant parameters, such as the water–cement ratio, aggregate–cement ratio, age of testing, and percentage cement/metakaolin ratios (5% and 10%). We prepared 162 cylindrical concrete specimens with dimensions of 10 cm in diameter and 20 cm in height and 27 prismatic specimens with cross sections measuring 25 and 50 cm in length, with 9 different concrete mixture proportions. A longitudinal transducer with a frequency of 54 kHz was used to measure the ultrasonic velocities. An ANN model was developed, different ANN configurations were tested and compared to identify the best ANN model. Using this model, it was possible to assess the contribution of each input variable to the compressive strength of the tested concretes. The results indicate an excellent performance of the ANN model developed to predict compressive strength from the input parameters studied, with an average error less than 5%. Together, the water–cement ratio and the percentage of metakaolin were shown to be the most influential factors for the compressive strength value predicted by the developed ANN model.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 3902-3910

In the field of mobile robotics, path planning is one of the most widely-sought areas of interest due to its nature of complexity, where such issue is also practically evident in the case of mobile robots used for waste disposal purposes. To overcome issues on path planning, researchers have studied various classical and heuristic methods, however, the extent of optimization applicability and accuracy still remain an opportunity for further improvements. This paper presents the exploration of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) in characterizing the path planning capability of a mobile waste-robot in order to improve navigational accuracy and path tracking time. The author utilized proximity and sound sensors as input vectors, dual H-bridge Direct Current (DC) motors as target vectors, and trained the ANN model using Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) and Scaled Conjugate (SCG) algorithms. Results revealed that LM was significantly more accurate than SCG algorithm in local path planning with Mean Square Error (MSE) values of 1.75966, 2.67946, and 2.04963, and Regression (R) values of 0.995671, 0.991247, and 0.983187 in training, testing, and validation environments, respectively. Furthermore, based on simulation results, LM was also found to be more accurate and faster than SCG with Pearson R correlation coefficients of rx=.975, nx=6, px=0.001 and ry=.987, ny=6, py=0.000 and path tracking time of 8.47s.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
özlem karadag albayrak

Abstract Turkey attaches particular importance to energy generation by renewable energy sources in order to remove negative economic, environmental and social effects caused by fossil resources in energy generation. Renewable energy sources are domestic and do not have any negative effect, such as external dependence in energy and greenhouse gas, caused by fossil resources and which constitute a threat for sustainable economic development. In this respect, the prediction of energy amount to be generated by Renewable Energy (RES) is highly important for Turkey. In this study, a generation forecasting was carried out by Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) methods by utilising the renewable energy generation data between 1965-2019. While it was predicted by ANN that 127.516 TWh energy would be generated in 2023, this amount was estimated to be 45.457 TeraWatt Hour (TWh) by ARIMA (1.1.6) model. The Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) was calculated in order to specify the error margin of the forecasting models. This value was determined to be 13.1% by ANN model and 21.9% by ARIMA model. These results suggested that the ANN model provided a more accurate result. It is considered that the conclusions achieved in this study will be useful in energy planning and management.


Author(s):  
J. V. Ratnam ◽  
Masami Nonaka ◽  
Swadhin K. Behera

AbstractThe machine learning technique, namely Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), is used to predict the surface air temperature (SAT) anomalies over Japan in the winter months of December, January and February for the period 1949/50 to 2019/20. The predictions are made for the four regions Hokkaido, North, Central and West of Japan. The inputs to the ANN model are derived from the anomaly correlation coefficients among the SAT anomalies over the regions of Japan and the global SAT and sea surface temperature anomalies. The results are validated using anomaly correlation coefficient (ACC) skill scores with the observation. It is found that the ANN predictions over Hokkaido have higher ACC skill scores compared to the ACC scores over the other three regions. The ANN predicted SAT anomalies are compared with that of ensemble mean of 8 of the North American Multi-Model Ensemble (NMME) models besides comparing them with the persistent anomalies. The ANN predictions over all the four regions have higher ACC skill scores compared to the NMME model skill scores in the common period of 1982/83 to 2018/19. The ANN predicted SAT anomalies also have higher Hit rate and lower False alarm rate compared to the NMME predicted SAT anomalies. All these indicate that the ANN model is a promising tool for predicting the winter SAT anomalies over Japan.


Author(s):  
Trevor J. Bihl ◽  
William A. Young II ◽  
Gary R. Weckman

Despite the natural advantage humans have for recognizing and interpreting patterns, large and complex datasets, as in Big Data, preclude efficient human analysis. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) provide a family of pattern recognition approaches for prediction, clustering and classification applicable to KDD with ANN model complexity ranging from simple (for small problems) highly complex (for large issues). To provide a starting point for readers, this chapter first describes foundational concepts that relate to ANNs. A listing of commonly used ANN methods, heuristics, and criteria for initializing ANNs is then discussed. Common pre- and post- data processing methods for dimensionality reduction and data quality issues are then described. The authors then provide a tutorial example of ANN analysis. Finally, the authors list and describe applications of ANNs to specific business related endeavors for further reading.


Author(s):  
Trevor J. Bihl ◽  
William A. Young II ◽  
Gary R. Weckman

Despite the natural advantage humans have for recognizing and interpreting patterns, large and complex datasets, as in big data, preclude efficient human analysis. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) provide a family of pattern recognition approaches for prediction, clustering, and classification applicable to KDD with ANN model complexity ranging from simple (for small problems) to highly complex (for large issues). To provide a starting point for readers, this chapter first describes foundational concepts that relate to ANNs. A listing of commonly used ANN methods, heuristics, and criteria for initializing ANNs are then discussed. Common pre- and post-data processing methods for dimensionality reduction and data quality issues are then described. The authors then provide a tutorial example of ANN analysis. Finally, the authors list and describe applications of ANNs to specific business-related endeavors for further reading.


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