Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Inference System Models for Predicting the Shear Strength of Reinforced Concrete Deep Beams

Article history: Received: 27 June 2015 Accepted: 25 August 2015 A reinforced concrete member in which the total span or shear span is especially small in relation to its depth is called a deep beam. In this study, a new approach based on the Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) is used to predict the shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) deep beams. A constitutive relationship was obtained correlating the ultimate load with seven mechanical and geometrical parameters. These parameters contain Web width, Effective depth, Shear span to depth ratio, Concrete compressive strength, Main reinforcement ratio, Horizontal shear reinforcement ratio and Vertical shear reinforcement ratio. The ANFIS model is developed based on 214 experimental database obtained from the literature. The data used in the present study, out of the total data, 80% was used for training the model and 20% for checking to validate the model. The results indicated that ANFIS is an effective method for predicting the shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) deep beams and has better accuracy and simplicity compared to the empirical methods.