Application of Group Method of Data Handling on the Ultimate Conditions’ Prediction of FRP-Confined Concrete Cylinders

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) is widely used in the field of structural engineering, for example, as a confining material for concrete. The ultimate conditions (i.e., compressive strength and ultimate axial strain) are key factors that need to be considered in the practical applications of FRP-confined concrete cylinders. However, the prediction accuracy of existing confinement models is low and cannot provide an effective reference for practical applications. In this paper, a database containing experimental data of 221 FRP-confined normal concrete cylinder specimens was collected from the available literature, and eleven parameters such as the confining stress, stiffness ratio and strain ratio were selected as the input parameters. Then, a promising machine learning algorithm, i.e., group method of data handling (GMDH), was applied to establish a confinement model. The GMDH model was compared with nine existing models, and the prediction results of these models were evaluated by five comprehensive indicators. The results indicated that the GMDH model had higher prediction accuracy and better stability than existing confinement models, with determination coefficients of 0.97 (compressive strength) and 0.91 (ultimate axial strain). Finally, a convenient graphical user interface (GUI) was developed, which can provide a quick and efficient reference for engineering design and is freely available.