Compressive behavior of elliptical concrete-filled steel tubular short columns using numerical investigation and machine learning techniques

This paper presents a non-linear finite element model (FEM) to predict the load-carrying capacity of three different configurations of elliptical concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) short columns: double steel tubes with sandwich concrete (CFDST), double steel tubes with sandwich concrete and concrete inside the inner steel tube, and a single outer steel tube with sandwich concrete. Then, a parametric and analytical study was performed to explore the influence of geometric and material parameters on the load-carrying capacity of elliptical CFST short columns. Furthermore, the current study investigates the effectiveness of machine learning (ML) techniques in predicting the load-carrying capacity of elliptical CFST short columns. These techniques include Support Vector Regressor (SVR), Random Forest Regressor (RFR), Gradient Boosting Regressor (GBR), XGBoost Regressor (XGBR), MLP Regressor (MLPR), K-nearest Neighbours Regressor (KNNR), and Naive Bayes Regressor (NBR). ML models accuracy is assessed by comparing their predictions with FE results. Among the models, GBR and XGBR exhibited outstanding results with high test R² scores of 0.9888 and 0.9885, respectively. The study provided insights into the contributions of individual features to predictions using the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) approach. The results from SHAP indicate that the eccentric loading ratio (e/2a) has the most significant effect on the load-carrying capacity of elliptical CFST short columns, followed by the yield strength of the outer steel tube ( \(\:{f}_{yo}\) ) and the inner width of the inner steel tube ( \(\:2{a}_{ii}\) ). Additionally, a user interface platform has been developed to streamline the practical application of the proposed ML.