Machine learning algorithms in wood ash-cement-Nano TiO2-based mortar subjected to elevated temperatures

Mortar is subjected to high temperatures during fire attacks or when it is near heat-radiating equipment like furnaces and reactors. The physical and microstructure of mortar were considerably altered by high temperatures. In this investigation, the effects of elevated temperatures on the flexural and compressive strengths of wood ash (WA) cement mortar modified with green-synthesised Nano titanium oxide (NT) were examined. In order to produce mortar samples, the cement was replaced with 10% WA, and 1–3% NT by weight of binder were added at constant water-binder ratio. The specimens were heated to 105, 200, 400, 600, and 800 °C with an incremental rate of 10 °C per min in the electric furnace for a sustained period of 2 h to measure their strengths. The machine learning algorithm of artificial neural networks with Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation training techniques of different network architectures was engaged to predict the compressive strength of WA-cement-NT-based mortar produced. The findings showed that higher temperatures reduced compressive strength after 400 °C and flexural strength after 200 °C. The mortar specimen with a 3% NT addition showed the highest residual compressive strength increase, ranging from 18.75 to 27.38%. Compared to compressive strength, flexural strength is more severely affected by high temperatures. The backpropagation training algorithm revealed that each hidden layer displayed its unique strong prediction. However, Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation training technique of 7–10-10-1 network structures yielded the best performance metrics for training, validation, and testing compared to 7-10-10-10 and 7-10-1 network architectures.