Mix proportioning of high-performance concrete by applying the GA and PSO

High performance concrete is designed to meets special requirements such as high strength, high flowability, and high durability in large scale concrete construction. To obtain such performance many trial mixes are required to find desired combination of materials and there is no conventional way to achieve proper mix proportioning. Genetic algorithm is a global optimization technique based on mechanics of natural selection and natural genetics and can be used to find a near optimal solution to a problem that may have many solutions. Particle swarm optimization is another evolutionary searching strategy motivated by social behaviors to obtain optimum answer. This paper presents a method whereby the mixture proportion of concrete can be optimized to reduce the number of trial mixtures with desired properties by using the genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization techniques.