article
info
Article history:
Received 29 July 2010
Accepted 2 January 2011
Keywords:
Castellated steel beams
Web-post buckling
Neural network
Back-propagation
Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system
abstract
In this paper, load carrying capacity of simply supported castellated steel beams, susceptible to webpost buckling, is studied. The accuracy of the nonlinear finite element (FE) method to evaluate the load
carrying capacity and failure mode of the beams is discussed. In view of the high computational burden
of the nonlinear finite element analysis, a parametric study is achieved based on FE and an empirical
equation is proposed to estimate the web-posts buckling critical load of the castellated steel beams.
Also as other alternatives to achieve this task, the traditional back-propagation (BP) neural network and
adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) are employed. In this case, the accuracy of the proposed
empirical equation, BP network and ANFIS are examined by comparing their provided results with those of
conventional FE analysis. The numerical results indicate that the best accuracy associates with the ANFIS
and the neural network models provide better accuracy than the proposed equations.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Castellated I-shaped steel beams have vast application as
simply supported gravity girders. The presence of the web
openings in the castellated beams introduces different failure
modes at the perforated sections such as excessive stresses in teesections, excessive stresses in mid-depth of the web post, web-post
buckling, developing plastic Vierendeel mechanism [1]. Zaarour
and Redwood [2] investigated the web-post buckling failure mode
of 12 simply supported castellated beams loaded at mid-span
of the beam. Their study also contained the FE simulation of
a web post and flanges of one of the specimens by using the
NASTRAN software. A four sided shell element was used in FE
modeling considering material nonlinearity. Their study showed
that web-post buckling is a potential failure mode and should be
considered in the design. The web buckling failure mode of the
castellated beams due to shear force was studied by Redwood
and Demirdjian [3]. They tested four simply supported castellated
beams under concentrated load at the beam mid-length. The tests
showed that the web buckling depends on the restraining effects of
the beam flanges and lateraltorsional bracing of the upper flange.
A parallel parametric FE modeling was done by ignoring material
nonlinearity. Based on the results of 27 parametric models, they
proposed a relationship between the web-posts horizontal shear
0143-974X/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jcsr.2011.01.001
771
772
Table 1
Geometrical properties and the results of the specimens.
Model
dg (mm)
h (mm)
tw (mm)
e (mm)
bf (mm)
tf (mm)
Ptest (kN)
FE (kN)
Err (%)
107
106
105(b)
8-1a
308.5
308.5
308.5
307.3
133.1
133.1
133.1
55.25
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.43
77.8
70
65
48.5
66.9
66.9
66.9
59.44
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.70
2438
1828
1220
3050
500
300
610
3050
84.4
94.8
100.9
57
90.61
98.24
112.0
54.3
7.4
3.6
11.0
4.7
estimated using the Euler Beam Theory. According to Fig. 2, Eq. (1)
can be written for the radial stresses at the web-post edge:
fr =
w=
fr =
Vh (r f )
(1)
S
2
3
tw r 2 2
(2)
3Vh (r f )
(3)
2tw r 2 2
frmax =
3Vh tan
(4)
4tw e 2
where, fr and frmax are the redial stress and the maximum redial
stress at the web post, respectively and w is the section modulus
for the web post about its out-of-plane axis. The horizontal shear
force of the web post is expressed by Vh , as shown in Fig. 2.
Also, tw is the thickness of the web of the beam. Other geometric
parameters are shown in Fig. 2.
On the other hand, critical stress of the slender columns can be
calculated by Eq. (5)
KL/r < CC : Fr =
KL/r > CC : Fr =
= KL/r
FS
1.0
105 105
2
2CC2
]
(5a)
(5b)
(5c)
2 2 E
CC =
Fy
Fy
(5d)
Where FS and K in the above equation are the safety factor and
effective length factor, respectively, and here, both are supposed
to be 1.0. E, Fr and Fy are the modulus of elasticity, the buckling
and the yield stress of the web-post material, respectively. The
, L and r parameters are the slenderness factor, edge length and
radius of gyration of the web post, respectively. These parameters
are defined as follows:
h
L=
(6)
Sin
tw
r =
= 0.3tw .
(7)
12
Thus, the shear capacity of the castellated beam, V , limited by the
stress level of the web-posts edge, will be as below:
V = Vh
dg 2yt
S
4tw e 2 fr
(8)
.
(9)
3 tan( )
As will be shown later in this paper, for < CC , web-post buckling
occurs whenever the level of the maximum first principle passes
the yield stress or a little larger than it. Also, for > CC , the web
post buckles in the elastic range. However, there are some inherent
differences between the assumptions and the real conditions such
as:
The Euler Beam Theory does not consider the web-post shear
deflections.
Vh =
Fig. 3. The ratio of the shear capacity obtained by FE and the results of Eq. (8) for
< CC .
=
=
VFE
VEq. (8)
= f ( )
tw
(10a)
tw
h
tw
e
tw
4 5 6
d
e
h
(10b)
= 8.36( 0.68 )
2.2 0.45 0.1 0.5
d
b
h
e
= 105
t
t
t
t
0.55 0.45
d
e
.
h
(11a)
(11b)
773
= 4.28( 1.04 )
6 1.1 0.75 1.18
d
b
h
100
= 10
CC
t
t
t
e 0.5 d 0.6
As seen from Eq. (11), for > Cc which denotes the elastic buckling
limit, the parameter is independent of Cc which is a function
of the yield stress (see Eq. (5d)). The accuracy of Eq. (11) for the
analyzed models is shown in Fig. 5. From this figure a wide range
of models have a good consistency with Eq. (11).
It can be observed that the error of Eq. (11) for the most of
the first 70 models is less than 10%. These models correspond to
0 < < 3. For > 3, Eq. (11) conservatively underestimates
the shear capacity of the web post, as it approaches the boundary
( > CC ). This is due to the manner of selecting the bounds and the
inherent deficiencies in defining a proper slenderness factor () for
categorizing the expected performance (elastic or inelastic) of the
web post. However, the neural network techniques, implemented
in later sections, yield a uniform accuracy all over the range
and eliminate the deficiency of the presented method in the
boundary.
The first principal stress distribution in the web post at
the onset of the buckling was less or a little more than the
yield stress (Fy = 352 MPa). Fig. 6 shows the shear-forceverticaldisplacement curve and von Mises stress distribution in two FE
models whose properties are listed in Table 2.
found.
estimated.
It should be noted that the presented method is for Fy = 352
(MPa) and more parametric or experimental studies are needed for
generalizing the approach.
6. Predicting load carrying capacity of the castellated steel
beams
In this study, the BP network and ANFIS are employed for
predicting the load carrying capacity of the castellated steel beams.
By employing these computational tools, lengthy nonlinear FE
analysis need not be performed to evaluate the load carrying
capacity. In the next subsection, the theoretical background of both
the computational methods is briefly explained.
6.1. Back-propagation (BP) neural networks
Standard BP [20] is a gradient descent algorithm, in which the
network weights are moved along the negative of the gradient
774
Fig. 6. (a) The first principal stress distribution in the web post at the onset of the buckling (MPa). (b) Shear-forcevertical-deflection curve of the specimens.
Table 2
Geometric characteristics of two specimens.
Specimen
dg (mm)
h (mm)
tw (mm)
bf (mm)
tf (mm)
e (mm)
b (mm)
a
b
320
380.5
110
155
4.5
3.8
73
66.9
6.9
4.59
90
80
50
60
89.5
145.8
(13)
(14)
1
where A
k is the Hessian matrix of the performance index at the
current values of the weights.
Newtons method often converges faster than conjugate
gradient methods. Unfortunately, it is complex and expensive to
compute the Hessian matrix for feedforward neural networks. The
LM algorithm was designed to approach the second order training
speed without having to compute the Hessian matrix. In the LM
algorithm the weights updating is achieved as follows:
Wk+1 = Wk [J T J + I ]1 J T E
(15)
m
1
m i=1
Ei2
(16)
775
as follows:
msereg = (mse) +
n
(1 )
(In1 ci )2
,
Ai (In1 , i , ci ) = exp
2i2
(In1 cj )2
Bj (In2 , j , cj ) = exp
,
2j2
Wj2
(17)
j =1
Rule 1: if In1 is A1 and In2 is B1 then f11 = p11 In1 + q11 In2 + r11
Rule 2: if In1 is A1 and In2 is B2 then f12 = p12 In1 + q12 In2 + r12
Rule 3: if In1 is A2 and In2 is B1 then f21 = p21 In1 + q21 In2 + r21
(18)
i = 1, 2
= Bj (In2 ),
j = 1, 2.
(21)
Wij
2
i, j = 1, 2
(22)
Wij
i =1 j =1
i, j = 1, 2.
(23)
2
2
W ij fij
i=1 j=1
O1Bj
i, j = 1 , 2 .
Rule 4: if In1 is A2 and In2 is B2 then f22 = p22 In1 + q22 In2 + r22
O1Ai = Ai (In1 ),
(20)
j = 1, 2
O3ij = W ij =
i = 1, 2
(19)
2
2
i=1 j=1
2
2
(24)
i=1 j=1
where the overall output Out is a linear combination of the consequent parameters when the values of the premise parameters are
fixed.
Modifiable parameters of the ANFIS architecture are placed
in Layers 1 and 4. During the training phase, adjustment of
776
(25)
Out = Out 1 = V .
(26)
Table 3
The most influential inputs.
ni
1
2
3
4
5
6
Optimal combination
{tw }
{h tw }
{dg h tw }
{dg h tw e}
{dg h tw e b}
{dg h tw bf e b}
RMSE
Training
Testing
22.5000
12.9000
5.4000
3.0949
2.9387
2.9929
26.6500
15.8000
3.6000
2.7977
3.9599
3.8452
Table 4
Testing results.
Model
EQ
BP1
BP2
ANFIS1
ANFIS2
Error Metrics
MAPE
MAXE
RMSE
8.3500
5.1360
4.1406
3.9200
2.6406
24.0100
18.8082
15.5511
14.0949
8.4183
6.3834
4.0625
3.5611
2.7276
2.0631
4.75
4.02
4.38
1.96
777
Fig. 9. Comparison of the errors of the ANFIS2, BP2 and the proposed equation.
Table A.1
The training samples.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Inputs
Output
dg
tw
bf
tf
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
180.0
180.0
180.0
180.0
180.0
180.0
180.0
180.0
180.0
180.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
290.0
290.0
320.0
320.0
320.0
380.5
380.5
380.5
60.0
60.0
60.0
60.0
60.0
60.0
80.0
80.0
90.0
90.0
90.0
90.0
60.0
60.0
60.0
60.0
60.0
60.0
50.0
50.0
50.0
50.0
60.0
50.0
50.0
50.0
50.0
60.0
60.0
60.0
70.0
70.0
75.0
50.0
50.0
50.0
50.0
50.0
50.0
70.0
70.0
68.0
95.0
97.0
110.0
110.0
110.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
4.50
4.50
4.00
4.00
4.40
4.40
4.40
4.40
4.40
4.40
4.40
4.40
4.40
4.40
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
3.50
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.00
4.70
4.70
4.50
4.50
4.50
3.56
3.56
3.56
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
64.0
64.0
64.0
64.0
64.0
64.0
64.0
64.0
64.0
64.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
66.9
66.9
66.9
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
6.30
6.30
6.30
6.30
6.30
6.30
6.30
6.30
6.30
6.30
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
4.59
4.59
4.59
77.8
70.0
60.0
55.0
35.0
30.0
65.0
30.0
77.8
30.0
77.8
30.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
35.0
45.0
55.0
70.0
70.0
60.0
40.0
30.0
60.0
50.0
30.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
60.0
50.0
30.0
60.0
50.0
30.0
40.0
30.0
30.0
90.0
90.0
90.0
90.0
93.0
70.0
60.0
40.0
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
30.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
55.0
55.0
55.0
70.0
65.0
65.0
55.0
55.0
51.0
50.0
50.0
76.2
76.2
76.2
113.00
115.60
117.30
122.65
132.30
134.00
103.30
115.35
123.45
138.88
101.14
104.14
64.51
64.24
66.16
67.37
64.86
60.40
80.13
77.40
75.50
74.30
85.60
95.40
96.72
102.00
104.30
88.00
88.70
92.20
78.50
77.38
49.27
93.90
97.43
100.20
90.60
92.90
101.60
74.55
77.45
65.09
90.58
90.07
86.18
86.46
86.95
77.80
73.20
72.80
(27)
No.
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
Inputs
Output
dg
tw
bf
tf
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
550.0
380.5
350.0
350.0
550.0
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
300.0
500.0
400.0
450.0
400.0
400.0
380.5
500.0
400.0
400.0
400.0
400.0
400.0
400.0
400.0
400.0
500.0
500.0
500.0
180.0
210.0
120.0
140.0
160.0
160.0
150.0
150.0
155.0
250.0
160.0
160.0
140.0
170.0
160.0
160.0
160.0
160.0
133.1
133.1
133.1
133.1
133.1
133.1
133.1
133.1
110.0
110.0
110.0
90.0
90.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
140.0
140.0
60.0
70.0
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.80
5.00
3.20
3.20
3.20
4.30
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
4.00
2.00
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
3.00
3.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.40
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
64.0
73.0
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
6.30
6.90
30.0
77.8
30.0
80.0
80.0
80.0
80.0
95.0
80.0
80.0
80.0
80.0
80.0
60.0
50.0
30.0
77.8
70.0
60.0
60.0
55.0
45.0
40.0
35.0
77.8
55.0
30.0
77.8
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
80.0
80.0
70.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
50.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
60.0
53.0
76.2
40.0
50.0
40.0
45.0
60.0
60.0
80.0
40.0
40.0
40.0
40.0
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
35.0
50.0
70.0
70.0
70.0
45.0
30.0
30.0
42.5
76.05
52.23
43.30
39.97
43.98
44.88
47.70
62.69
30.84
20.37
34.81
128.00
40.43
40.75
41.95
46.35
56.90
58.91
60.56
53.70
60.87
62.72
63.22
65.16
76.86
77.28
84.69
85.48
105.30
54.90
85.00
54.74
91.26
75.88
96.39
98.43
59.00
41.00
33.00
38.55
42.00
42.30
42.45
38.58
60.01
109.42
62.00
39.50
24.35
33.14
778
Table A.2
The testing samples with corresponding Err (%).
No.
Inputs
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Err =
Output
Err (%)
dg
tw
bf
tf
PE
BP1
BP2
ANFIS1
ANFIS2
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
180.0
180.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
320.0
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
380.5
450.0
400.0
400.0
475.0
400.0
400.0
500.0
500.0
180.0
190.0
210.0
210.0
210.0
60.0
60.0
60.0
80.0
80.0
90.0
60.0
60.0
70.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
50.0
70.0
62.0
108.0
120.0
120.0
140.0
160.0
160.0
160.0
160.0
133.1
133.1
133.1
90.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
120.0
140.0
60.0
60.0
70.0
70.0
70.0
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
4.50
4.40
4.40
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.70
4.00
4.50
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
3.56
2.00
2.50
3.20
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.40
2.40
2.40
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
64.0
64.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.9
64.0
64.0
73.0
73.0
73.0
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
6.30
6.30
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
6.90
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
4.59
6.30
6.30
6.90
6.90
6.90
65.0
50.0
40.0
77.8
45.0
50.0
60.0
30.0
70.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
50.0
90.0
80.0
50.0
77.8
80.0
77.8
70.0
40.0
65.0
50.0
30.0
50.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
60.0
30.0
40.0
60.0
40.0
65.0
63.0
69.3
64.5
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
30.0
30.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
35.0
45.0
65.0
75.0
55.0
76.2
76.2
50.0
50.0
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
76.2
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
45.0
40.0
45.0
60.0
30.0
30.0
35.0
42.5
42.5
117.93
125.37
129.84
96.40
108.50
131.55
65.50
65.30
77.67
99.58
91.96
78.04
98.09
76.50
62.86
88.15
71.56
69.56
52.38
39.12
40.24
40.43
41.80
58.65
60.70
64.53
98.43
70.00
58.75
83.34
74.56
39.00
46.30
76.00
50.00
25.00
23.51
32.50
31.13
33.84
4.99
3.00
8.00
2.00
12.00
11.00
11.00
3.99
7.00
2.00
3.00
0.98
8.00
12.00
7.00
0.01
1.00
8.00
13.00
10.00
10.00
11.00
10.00
7.00
6.00
2.00
11.00
19.00
3.00
10.00
13.00
2.00
9.99
5.00
2.00
17.00
10.00
15.00
19.00
24.00
2.0066
0.2848
0.2869
1.3002
3.1711
0.5082
3.5543
6.5927
2.3187
0.7960
0.2406
10.143
3.0189
3.1478
2.9249
6.6283
12.574
0.8839
1.1691
4.3316
0.1629
2.2179
10.0082
2.7208
1.2123
0.7824
4.7843
12.7743
5.7746
12.0893
5.1185
3.1891
2.7845
4.1281
18.8081
9.1307
6.2653
11.2684
10.3956
15.9409
0.8260
1.1010
1.3223
0.7809
1.7012
4.3682
3.6288
3.2451
3.4318
6.0456
6.1452
3.4922
2.6144
1.6465
2.9645
2.3905
4.3212
2.9289
2.8689
1.9111
4.7685
5.5024
0.6229
0.1149
0.6482
5.3690
3.5650
7.2900
0.3839
5.9432
11.7301
4.1848
2.5501
15.5510
6.5775
3.3134
9.7007
6.7927
2.7755
10.5057
0.9212
2.1866
3.6417
3.2929
1.0937
2.0547
1.4979
4.5464
3.0287
0.7262
2.7575
2.4619
0.0982
3.3693
3.7741
0.6593
7.1498
5.4941
4.0895
7.4445
14.0948
10.0768
3.4645
1.0478
3.3511
4.4442
0.5482
4.1053
9.6686
1.5147
1.3039
0.8648
9.5044
4.7505
0.2211
12.7668
4.9085
3.8836
1.2614
4.7300
0.0791
0.5058
0.3890
0.8859
0.9866
0.6327
2.6492
1.9347
5.6560
1.9928
3.7933
1.5102
1.0625
0.2537
7.2444
0.3328
5.4820
3.0555
1.5187
3.7347
4.9951
0.4630
3.0860
3.3476
0.8249
3.3396
0.1436
0.1822
4.0893
3.1642
8.3223
3.7951
1.9428
2.1186
3.3317
3.4685
8.4183
0.8890
2.2133
3.7884
|V ex V pr |
MAPE =
V ex
ns
1
ns i=1
100
Erri
i = 1, 2, . . . , ns
ns
1
RMSE =
(Viex Vipr )2
MAXE = max{Erri },
ns i=1
(28)
(29)
(30)
(31)
where, V ex and V pr are the exact and predicted values of the load
carrying capacity, respectively. Also, Err, MAPE, ns , MAXE, and RMSE
are absolute percentage error, mean absolute percentage error, the
number of testing samples, maximum absolute percentage error
and root mean squared error, respectively.
In order to train the BP models, one hidden layer with various
number of the neurons are examined and the best results are
obtained by employing four neurons. This means that the best
architecture for BP models include four hidden layer neurons. The
results of testing all neural network models and the proposed
equation are given in Table 4. In the case of the BP2 and ANFIS2, the
training time includes the time spent to finding the most influential
inputs.
It is observed that the BP2 is superior to the BP1 model, also the
ANFIS2 is superior to the ANFIS1 and this emphasizes the impact of
employing the most influential inputs on the numerical accuracy of
the neural network models. This means that employing the most
influential inputs not only decreases the training time, especially
in ANFIS, but also increases the accuracy of the neural network
models. The given results imply that the accuracy of all the neural
network models is better than that of the proposed equation while
the ANFIS2 model in better than the BP2 model in terms of accuracy
and training elapsed time. Therefore the ANFIS2 is the best model
among all of the employed models. The errors of the ANFIS2, BP2
and proposed equation are compared in Fig. 9.
8. Concluding remarks
By using the nonlinear FE method, the parametric study is
done on the critical load carrying capacity of the web posts of
the castellated steel beams. To achieve this, a parametric model
of a castellated beam is created (based on the previously tested
specimens) for which the geometric properties of the flanges, the
web and the perforations of the web are set as parameters. Then,
a web post with half of the adjacent perforations is considered
as a base model for creating 140 FE models. Based on the results
of 140 FE models, empirical equations are presented to predict
the load carrying capacity of the castellated steel beams. More
experimental and reliability analyses are needed in order to codify
the method.
Also the BP network and ANFIS are employed as other alternatives to achieve prediction task. In order to improve the prediction accuracy as well as the training time, the most influential
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