Reviews on Advanced Materials Science 2023; 62: 20230347

Research Article

Yunchao Tang, Yufei Wang, Dongxiao Wu, Mengcheng Chen, Lan Pang, Junbo Sun*,
Wanhui Feng*, and Xiangyu Wang*

Exploring temperature-resilient recycled

aggregate concrete with waste rubber: An
experimental and multi-objective optimization
analysis
https://doi.org/10.1515/rams-2023-0347
received April 28, 2023; accepted July 12, 2023
Abstract: For low-carbon sustainability, recycled rubber
particles (RPs) and recycled aggregate (RA) could be used
to make rubber-modified recycled aggregate concrete (RRAC).
The characteristics (compressive strength and peak strain)
of RRAC with various amounts of RA and RPs after heating
at various temperatures were studied in this work. The
results show that high temperatures significantly decreased
the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), whereas the addi-
tion of RA (e.g., 50%) and RPs (e.g., 5%) can mitigate the

* Corresponding author: Junbo Sun, Institute for Smart City of
Chongqing University in Liyang, Chongqing University, Chongqing,
Jiangsu, 213300, China, e-mail: tunneltc@gmail.com
* Corresponding author: Wanhui Feng, College of Urban and Rural
Construction, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering,
Guangzhou 510225, China, e-mail: whfeng@zhku.edu.cn
* Corresponding author: Xiangyu Wang, School of Design and Built
Environment, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6102, Australia,
e-mail: Xiangyu.Wang@curtin.edu.au
Yunchao Tang: College of Urban and Rural Construction, Zhongkai
University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China; Key
Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Structural Safety of Ministry of
Education, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi
University, Nanning 530004, China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Disaster
Prevention and Engineering Safety, School of Civil Engineering and
Architecture, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China,
e-mail: ryan.twain@zhku.edu.cn
Yufei Wang: School of Design and Built Environment, Curtin University,
Perth, WA 6102, Australia, e-mail: wangyf0113_suz@163.com
Dongxiao Wu: College of Urban and Rural Construction, Zhongkai
University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China,
e-mail: mrwudx@163.com
Mengcheng Chen: School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, East
China Jiao Tong University, Nanchang 330013, China,
e-mail: mcchen@ecjtu.edu.cn
Lan Pang: Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Structural Safety of
Ministry of Education, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture,
Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China, e-mail: 634331882@qq.com
negative effect caused by high temperatures. The peak
strain can also be improved by increasing the replacement
ratios of RA and RP. Support vector regression (SVR) models
were trained using a total of 120 groups of UCS and peak
strain experimental datasets, and an SVR-based multi-objec-
tive optimization model was proposed. The excellent corre-
lation coefficients (0.9772 for UCS and 0.9412 for peak strain)
found to illustrate the remarkable accuracy of the SVR
models. The Pareto fronts of a tri-objective mixture optimi-
zation design (UCS, strain, and cost) were successfully gen-
erated as the decision reference at varying temperature
conditions. A sensitivity analysis was performed to rank
the importance of the input variables where temperature
was found as the most important one. In addition, the repla-
cement ratio of RA is more important compared with that of
the RP for both the UCS and strain datasets. Among the
mechanical properties of concrete, compressive strength
and peak strain are two key properties. This study provides
guidance for the study of RRAC constitutive models under
high temperatures.
Keywords: rubber-modified recycled aggregate, compres-
sive strength, peak strain, machine learning, multi-objec-
tive optimization
1 Introduction
Nowadays, the demolition of buildings and transportation
infrastructure, such as bridges and sidewalks, produces a
large amount of construction waste [1–4]. The discarded
Portland cement concrete can be crushed into small pieces,
divided into different sizes, and reused as a new concrete
aggregate. One type of aggregate is known as recycled
aggregate (RA). Unlike ordinary concrete that uses entirely
natural aggregate (NA), concrete made entirely or partially
from RA is known as recycled aggregate concrete (RAC).

Open Access. © 2023 the author(s), published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2  Yunchao Tang et al.
However, RAs have some disadvantages, as the voids and
microcracks of the old mortar cover the surface [5–7].
These defects weaken the mechanical properties of RAC.
Recent research has proposed a series of environmentally
friendly methods for recycling waste rubber tires in engi-
neering projects [8–10]. One effective approach for treating
waste tires is to use rubber particles (RPs) as a replacement
material for fine aggregates in concrete. Studies have
shown that the mechanical properties of rubber concrete
and ordinary concrete differ. RPs can enhance the defor-
mation capacity of concrete [11]. Therefore, some disadvan-
tages of RAC, which is a soft material, can be overcome by
using RPs as part of the fine aggregate, known as rubber-
modified recycled aggregate concrete (RRAC) [12,13].
Fire is one of the most damaging environmental situa-
tions that may occur in a concrete structure [14–16]. Typi-
cally, fire generates a high-temperature differential in the
concrete. The temperature differential in concrete results
in chemical and physical processes such as dehydration of
the cement slurry, aggregate breakdown, mass loss, defor-
mation, and strength loss, all of which have a detrimental
effect on the mechanical and thermal characteristics of the
concrete. When concrete is subjected to extreme heat, its
mechanical characteristics deteriorate. It begins to degrade
at temperatures between 200 and 300°C and continues to
degrade as the temperature increases, lowering the struc-
ture’s strength and stiffness. Aggregates usually account
for 70% of the volume of concrete. Therefore, the thermal
properties of concrete largely depend on the type of aggre-
gate because the responses of different aggregates to high
temperatures differ significantly. Many studies have reported
that the difference between the mechanical properties of RAC
and natural aggregate concrete (NAC) at ambient tempera-
tures increases with the increase in the RA replacement rate,
particularly at a replacement rate of above 50% [17–19].
Therefore, the particularity of RAs also leads to dif-
ferent thermal properties of RAC compared with NAC.
Research has been conducted to evaluate the residual
mechanical properties of RAC subjected to elevated tem-
peratures, which showed that the old mortar attached to
the RAs reduced the elastic modulus and compressive
strength of the RAC. When the temperature exceeds 600°C,
the effect of temperature on the degradation of RAC at 100%
RA replacement rate is higher than that of NAC [20–22].
Therefore, it is necessary to develop a method to reduce
the thermal degradation of RAC, particularly at a high RA
replacement rate. Pliya et al. [23] found that the ease of
spalling of NAC at high temperatures, which reflects the
thermal strain of NAC, is greater than that of RAC.
Additionally, RRAC has attracted considerable atten-
tion due to the toughening impact of RPs on concrete
[24–26]. RRAC is a sustainable material derived from debris
that also possesses exceptional mechanical qualities. Com-
pressive and flexural behaviors are feasible in structural
engineering [27–29]. Liu et al. [12] found that RPs can effec-
tively improve the fatigue performance of RAC. Chen et al.
[30] investigated the deformation capacity of RRAC, which
is higher than that of RAC. Previous studies investigated
the thermomechanical properties of RRAC and discovered
that adding RPs can help minimize RAC spalling [31–33].
This is because many interior pores assist in the discharge
of internal steam via overflowing RPs following high-tem-
perature heating.
Many specimens containing varying amounts of RPs
and RA are usually prepared and tested to quantify the
effects of RPs and RA on the mechanical properties of
RRAC. However, this lab-based approach requires consid-
erable time and effort for sample preparation and data
analysis. Numerous high-tech technologies have emerged
mainly due to the development of artificial intelligence
[34–39]. Machine learning (ML) models with reliable pre-
diction performance and generalization, such as random
forest (RF), artificial neural network (ANN), and support
vector regression (SVR) can be established based on existing
experimental data [40–43]. SVR has been widely used for
data mining due to its good noise resistance, reliable gen-
eralization performance, and quick training speed com-
pared to other ML models, as reported by many experts
[44–46]. It can solve linear or non-linear problems by map-
ping to the higher-dimensional space. Therefore, this study
attempted to predict experimental data using an SVR model.
However, the performance of SVR is highly dependent on
hyperparameters. We used the beetle antennae search (BAS)
algorithm to automatically tune the hyperparameters of SVR
instead of conventional optimization strategies [47,48].
Furthermore, compared with other optimization algorithms,
such as the genetic algorithm [19] and the firefly algorithm
[49], BAS yields a higher adjustment efficiency [50].
Among the mechanical properties of concrete, the
compressive strength and the strain corresponding to
the peak stress (peak strain) are two key properties. The
reason is that the constitutive model of concrete is related
to these two factors, and high-strength concrete with high
deformation ability is also one of the goals pursued by
concrete materials. Therefore, the two primary character-
istics of RRAC studied in this research are uniaxial com-
pressive strength (UCS) and peak strain. Apart from ML
predictions of the UCS and strain, a multi-objective optimi-
zation (MOO) model is proposed to optimize the mixture
design using a metaheuristic algorithm [51,52]. MOO has
been verified as a feasible approach for the material mix-
ture design [19,53,54]. For instance, Zhang et al. [55] used a
 Exploring temperature-resilient RA concrete with waste rubber  3

multi-objective particle swarm optimization technique to

effectively optimize the strength, slump, and cost of plastic
concrete. The single-objective optimization design is rarely
considered because it does not meet complicated design
requirements in practice. Therefore, by using the SVR-
BAS-based MOO model (MOBAS-SVR), three objectives (i.e.,
UCS, peak strain, and cost) can be optimized simultaneously
by introducing a Pareto front. The goal of this study is to
optimize three parameters (UCS, peak strain, and cost) of
RRAC concurrently utilizing MOBAS-SVR after heating at
various temperatures. RRAC was used to produce 120 speci-
mens with the provided goal values.
The rest of the article is organized as follows. Section 2
summarizes the RRAC’s general mix composition. Section 3
summarizes the approach for MOO, including data description,
objective functions, hyperparameter tuning, and multi-objec-
Figure 1: Gradation of NAs and RAs.
tive and variable sensitivity analysis (SA). The experimental
results are presented in Section 4. In Section 5, the modeling
results based on the methods described in Section 3 are ana- were used instead of 0, 5, 10, and 15% of the volume of
lyzed. The main conclusions drawn based on the findings of sand. It was also necessary to use a polycarboxylic acid
this study are presented in Section 6. water-reducing admixture at a concentration of 3.88 kg·m−3.
Because of the use of P.O. 32.5R cement, only 50% of the NA
was replaced with RA, and no more than 0, 10, and 25% of the
2 Materials and methods volume of sand were replaced with RPs when using P.O. 32.5R
concrete. Comparing P.O. 42.5R and P.O. 32.5R, the water-to-
cement ratios were comparable at 0.45 and 0.43 for both
2.1 Raw materials and mix proportions materials.

In the experiments, Shijing Brand ordinary Portland cement

was used. The nominal strengths of the cement were chosen
to be P.O. 32.5R and P.O. 42.5R. Medium sand with particle
sizes ranging from 0 to 5 mm, a fineness modulus of 2.52,
and an apparent density of 2679 kg·m−3 were used. RAs were
created from crushed concrete waste on a construction site
in Shenzhen and treated by Shenzhen Lvfa Pengcheng
Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. Specifically, the dis-
carded concrete blocks and stone materials in construction
and demolition wastes were crushed, washed, and screened
to continuous grading. Before producing the concrete mixes,
RAs were washed again and the saturated surface dryness
conditions were ensured. The percentage of sediment con-
tent, elongated particles, and impurities were 0.88, 9.3, and
1.0, which were satisfied with the requirements of the codes.
RAs were added to the RAC by replacing an equal amount of
NA. Figure 1 depicts the grading curves of the NA and RA. All
coarse aggregates were classified as Grade II aggregates. The
particle size and apparent density of RPs were 0.86 mm (20-
mesh size) and 1,020 kg·m−3, respectively. Running water
was used in all experiments.
For the 42.5 MPa cement mixture, RA was used to
replace 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% of the volume of NA. RPs
2.2 Experimental program and specimen
preparation
After 24 h of specimen pouring, the molds were removed.
The cylinder was then cured for 28 days at a constant
temperature of 20 ± 2°C and a relative humidity of 95%
under standard conditions (diameter and height of 150
and 300 mm, respectively). The high-temperature treat-
ment was carried out in a box-type electric furnace with
a temperature control accuracy of 1°C. The gap between
the cylinder and the furnace wall was also maintained at
or above 20 mm in order to ensure that the sample surface
was heated consistently throughout the process. The thermal
rate was fixed to 5°C·min‒1 [56]. The temperature was held
constant for 60 min after achieving the desired temperature
(T = 200, 300, 400, 500, or 600°C), and then the heating was
turned off. Next, the specimen was removed from the fur-
nace, cooled at room temperature, and prepared for a uni-
axial compression test. In addition, each mix proportion had
a group of unheated specimens (T = 25°C). The heating curve
of the RRAC is shown in Figure 2.
4  Yunchao Tang et al.
Figure 2: Heating curves of RRAC.
2.3 Compression test setup
As illustrated in Figure 3, after heating the specimens, a
gypsum-leveling layer was applied to the two end surfaces
of each cylinder before compression in line with ASTM
C617 [57]. Compression tests were conducted using a hydraulic
servo universal testing machine in accordance with ASTM C39
[58] and C469 [59]. The loading speed was set at 0.18 mm·min−1
over the course of the test. To determine the longitudinal
deformation of the cylinder, two linear variable differential
transformers were employed in conjunction with each other.
To capture the synchronous displacement and force data, a
strain acquisition device with a 1 Hz acquisition frequency
was also employed. The UCS and peak strain were then calcu-
lated by averaging three specimens from each group.
3 MOO methodology
Figure 4 depicts the flowchart for the MOO mixing design
of RRAC utilizing MOBAS-SVR. To begin, two SVR models
Figure 3: Sketch of the uniaxial compression test.
were trained to predict the UCS and peak strain values
using the BAS method and fivefold cross-validation (CV).
Second, an objective function of the mixture expanse was
established to evaluate the cost of each group based on the
unit price and density of the raw materials. Third, by
applying an MOO function using the weighted sum approach,
the UCS, peak strain, and cost were considered as objectives.
Finally, non-dominated optimum solutions based on the
Pareto front were developed.
3.1 Data description
The input datasets were constructed using the experi-
mental findings of 120 sample groups. The water content,
cement content, RA, NA, sand, RPs, water reducer (WR),
cement grade (G), and temperature (T) are all input vari-
ables. UCS and peak strain of RRACs are output variables.
Table 1 lists the variables and their associated minimum,
maximum, median, and standard deviation.
3.2 Objective function: BAS-SVR-based
model
3.2.1 SVR
SVR is a classic implementation of support vector machines
in regression problems, and it is also a common regression
method. It can handle nonlinear problems by transforming
data from the space where the sample is located to a high-
dimensional space, which is realized using the kernel func-
tion [60]. The data are expressed in the form of (xi , yi ),
where xi is a feature vector with one dimension and yi
is a regression value with scalar properties. The training
dataset consists of n groups in the form of (xi , yi ) as given
in Eq. (1), and the regression function is expressed as given in
Eq. (2):
{(x1, y1 ) , (x2 , y2 ) , …, (xn , yn )} , (1)
f (x ) = w∙φ(x ) + β, (2)
where φ(x ) is a mapping function, w is the weight vector,
and β is the bias. The loss function is introduced to deter-
mine the degree of difference between f (xi ) and yi , as
formulated in the following equation:
(x , y , f ) = |yi − f (xi )|e
⎧ 0, |yi − f (xi )| < e , (3)
=⎨
|y
⎩ i − f (xi )| − ei , |yi − f (xi )| ≥ e ,
 Exploring temperature-resilient RA concrete with waste rubber  5

Figure 4: Flowchart of the concrete optimization design based on the MOBAS-SVR system.

Table 1: Statistical details of the input and output variables based on the UCS dataset

Variables Minimum Maximum Mean Median SD Variation coefficient

−3
W (kg·m ) 185 216 211.35 216 11.07 0.052
C (kg·m−3) 430 485 476.75 485 19.64 0.041
RA (kg·m−3) 0 1,194 651.50 618 316.28 0.485
NA (kg·m−3) 0 1,194 498.00 597 334.20 0.671
Sand (kg·m−3) 451 547 500.45 502 27.84 0.056
RPs (kg·m−3) 0 49 17.40 21 13.44 0.773
WR (kg·m−3) 0 3.88 3.30 3.88 1.39 0.420
G (MPa) 32.5 42.5 41.00 42.5 3.57 0.087
T (°C) 25 600 337.50 350 190.26 0.564
UCS (MPa) 4.2 58.75 35.38 35.09 12.58 0.355
Strain (%) 0.12 1.19 0.48 0.42 0.23 0.475

where e is the maximum tolerance error, indicating that ⎧ yi − w ⋅ φ(x ) − β ≤ e + δi ,

the function will not be penalized if the training points are ⎪ w ⋅ φ(x ) + β − y ≤ e + δi*,
i
s.t. ⎨ (5)
within the e-tube range. The problem is described as fol- δi ≥ 0,
⎪
lows, with the least structural risk taken into account: δi* ≥ 0,
⎩
n
1
 (w ) = ‖w‖2 + ∑  (x , y , f ) . (4) where C is the penalty parameter used to measure the
2 i=1 degree of penalty for the dissimilarity between the regres-
Slack variables (δi and δi*) are used to deal with infea- sion curve and the e -tube sample.
sible constraints to increase tolerance for biased data. Eq. (4) Figure 5 depicts the basic principles of nonlinear SVR
is equivalent to the following convex optimization function: by combining images with text and formula labeling.
n Thereafter, the prime problem should be converted to a
1
minw, e, δ , δ *(w ) = ‖w‖2 + C ∑ (δi + δi*) , dual problem by adopting positive Lagrange multipliers
2 i=1
6  Yunchao Tang et al.

⎛ 1 n n n
maxi⎜− ∑ ∑ (ai − a i*)(aj − a j*)x Tj xj − e ∑ (ai − a i*)
⎝ 2 i=1 j=1 i=1

n ⎞
+ ∑ yi (ai − ai*)⎟ (9)
i=1 ⎠
n
⎧
⎪ ∑ (ai − ai*) = 0,
s. t ⎨i=1
⎪
⎩ ai , a i* ∈ [0, C ].

From Eq. (8), the weight factor w source is ∑in= 1

(ai − a i*)φ(xi ), and Eq. (10) gives the regression function:
Figure 5: SVR machine [61]. n
f (x ) = ∑ (ai − ai*)φ(xi )x + β. (10)
i=1
(αi , αi*, ui , ui*) to allow multiple constraints. The dual func-
tion is given in Eq. (6):

L (w , β , δ , a , u ) 3.2.2 BAS
n
1
= ‖w‖2 + C ∑ (δi+δi*) It is the goal of BAS, a meta-heuristic method, to discover
2 i=1
n the optimal hyperparameters for ML models. Like other
− ∑ ai(e + δi − yi + w ⋅ φ(xi ) + β ) bionic algorithms, it is based on the behavior of long-
i=1
(6)
n
horned beetles [63]. Through its two antennae, a beetle
− ∑ ai*(e + δi + yi − w ⋅ φ(xi ) − β ) can detect the concentration of odor and travel to the
i=1 side with the highest concentration. In the BAS method,
n
the variables xl and xr denote the left- and right-side
− ∑ (uiδi + ui*δi*).
i=1 antenna locations, respectively. The position of the antenna
at the ith moment can be expressed as given in Eq. (11).
Eq. (7) [62] should satisfy the Karush–Kuhn–Tuck (KKT)
conditions for both the dual and original points when the xli = x i + d ib,
constraint equations are significantly at odds with one
xri = x i − d ib, (11)
another and the target equation is differentiable. Optimal
solutions meet the KKT criteria, which state that the product where b is a randomly generated vector that represents the
of the dual variable and a constraint is zero, which is random moving direction of the beetle. The random func-
expressed in Eq. (8): tion and dimension, rand and k, respectively, are intro-
n duced such that the vector b can be expressed as given
⎧ ∂L
= w − ∑ (ai − a i*) φ(xi ) = 0, in Eq. (12):
⎪ ∂w
i=1
⎪⎪ n rand(k , 1)
∂L b= . (12)
⎨ = ∑ (ai − a i*) = 0, (7) ‖rand(k , 1)‖
∂β i = 1
⎪
⎪ C − ai − ui = 0, The position vector of the beetle is expressed in Eq.
⎪ (13), where the step size is δ and f (x ) is the fitness function.
⎩ C − a i* − ui* = 0,
In addition, the antenna step size and length can be
ai (e + δi − yi + w ⋅ φ(xi ) + β ) = 0, updated according to the following equations. The pseudo-
a i*(e + δi + yi − w ⋅ φ(xi ) − β ) = 0, code of the BAS is shown in Figure 6:
(8)
(C − ai )δi = 0,
x i = x i − 1 + δ ibsign( f (xri ) − f (xli )) , (13)
(C − a i*)δi* = 0.
d i = 0.95d i − 1 + 0.01, (14)
Solving the above equations, the final Langrage dual
problem is obtained as follows: δ i = 0.95δ i − 1. (15)
 Exploring temperature-resilient RA concrete with waste rubber  7

3.3.2 Performance evaluation

Choosing appropriate evaluation indicators is key to com-

prehensively and accurately evaluating the performance
of the model. In this study, the correlation coefficient (R),
the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), the mean
absolute error (MAE), and RMSE were used as the evalua-
tion indicators of the SVR model. These indicators are
defined as follows [64]:
∑in= 1( yi* − y̅ * )( yi − y̅ )
R= , (16)
∑in= 1(yi* − y̅ * )2 ∑in= 1(yi* − y̅ )2

n y * − yi
1
Figure 6: Pseudocode for BAS. MAPE = ∑ i , (17)
n i=1 yi
n
1
3.3 Hyperparameter tuning MAE = ∑ |y* − yi |, (18)
n i=1 i

3.3.1 Cross-fold validation n

1
RSME = ∑ ( y* − yi )2 , (19)
n i=1 i
There are two basic hyperparameters that need to be tuned
in the SVR model: the Gaussian kernel parameter γ and the where n is the data sample of n groups, y* y
i and i are the
penalty coefficient c . A five-fold CV was adopted to avoid ̅ and y̅
predicted and actual results, respectively, and y*
over-fitting problems and ensure full use of the dataset. indicate the average of the predicted and actual results,
The UCS dataset was randomly divided into two parts, respectively.
namely the test dataset, which accounts for 30% of the total
dataset, and the training dataset, which accounts for 70%
of the total dataset. The same is true for the strain dataset.
3.4 MOO
Subsequently, the training dataset was divided into five
3.4.1 Objective function establishment
equal but non-overlapping folds, as shown in Figure 7
[64]. The BAS algorithm used four of the folds to tune the
The BAS-SVR model was selected as the objective function
hyperparameters of the SVR model during the training
for UCS and strain. The cost objective function involves
process. The remaining fold was used as a verification
polynomial calculations as
fold to check the robustness of the model training. After
the verification, the root mean square error (RMSE) was Cost($·m−3) = CCQC + CWQW + CRAQRA + CNAQNA
calculated. Cross-validation was performed five times using (20)
+ CsQs + CRPQRP + CWRQWR .
the above process. Subsequently, the best hyperparameters
with the smallest RSME were assembled on the model and In Eq. (20), QC , QW , QRA , QNA , Qs, QRP , and QWR are the
used to predict the UCS and strain. quantities (kg·m−3) of cement, water, RA, NA, sand, RP, and
WR, respectively. C is the unit price ($·kg−1) of each raw
material of RRCA, which is summarized in Table 2.

3.4.2 Constraints

This research imposed limits on the MOO issue, including

material range constraints, concrete volume constraints,
and ratio constraints.
1) Range constraints
The data range can be set for the UCS and strain
Figure 7: Five-fold cross-validation. datasets of RRCA, as expressed in the following equation:
8  Yunchao Tang et al.

k k
Table 2: The unit cost of each variable of RRAC
F= ∑ wk fk , ∑ wk = 1, (23)
k=1 k=1
Variables Notation Unit Unit p
price ($·kg−1) weight (kg·m−3) where the weights are calculated as wk = Kk , k is a uniform
distribution number, and pk is a random number from the
OPC CC 0.057 3,000
Water CW 0.001 1,000 uniform distribution, which is in the range of 0–1.
RA CRA 0.003 2,500 Therefore, the above function can be expressed as
NA CNA 0.0065 2,700 follows:
Sand CS 0.009 2,600
F = w1·UCS + w2·strain + w3·cost, (24)
RP CRP 0.27 1,300
WR CWRA 1.2 1,350 3
OPC strength G 0 0 ∑ wk = 1. (25)
Temperature T 0 0 k=1

Because there are multiple objectives in the MOO pro-

blem that need to be optimized, the Pareto optimal front is
di min ≤ di ≤ di max , (21)
proposed to provide a non-dominated solution, as detailed
where dimin and dimax represent the minimum and max- in the next paragraphs. This stipulates that the conditions
imum value of the i th variable, respectively. of other objective functions cannot be enhanced without
2) Volume constraints deteriorating the other functions [65].
The amount of the solid should be equal to 1 m3, If A is the set of feasible solutions and x * ∈ A is one of
expressed as follows: the Pareto optimal solutions, then there is no x ∈ A that
QC QW QRA QNA Qs QRP QWR satisfies
Vm = + + + + + + , (22)
UC UW URA UNA Us URP UWR fk (x ) ≤ fk (x *)fork = 1, 2, 3,…, t and (26)

where Uc, Uw , URA , UNA , Us , URP, and UWR are the unit fk (x ) < fk (x *)for at least onek . (27)
weights of OPC, water, RA, NA, sand, RP, and WR,
If for each x , f (x*) is greater than f (x ), then the
respectively.
Pareto optimal solution x* is realized. The set of Pareto
3) Ratio constraints
optimal solutions define the Pareto front, as shown in
To optimize the RRCA mixture, it is necessary to estab-
Figure 8, which represents the set of non-dominated solu-
lish a correlation among dissimilar raw materials by deter-
tions. The BAS algorithm can be improved to the MOBAS-
mining the ratio constraints. The input variables that
SVR model using the weight summation method to cope
depend on the framework dataset are listed in Table 3.
with the Pareto front of the MOO problem. The pseudo-
code is shown in Figure 9.

3.4.3 Construction of MOBAS–SVR

The MOBAS-SVR model was established based on the objec-

tive functions of UCS, strain, and cost, and the weighted
summation method was applied. Finally, the objectives ( fk )
were combined to generate a single composite objective
function (F ), which is expressed as given in the following
equation:

Table 3: Constraints of RRCA input variables

Variables Expressions Lower bound Upper bound

NA CNA (kg·m−3) 0 1,194

Sand Cs 488 536
RA ratio CRA /(CRA + CNA ) 0.5 1
RP ratio CRP /(CRP + Cs) 0 0.09
Figure 8: Pareto line model with feasible points [65].
 Exploring temperature-resilient RA concrete with waste rubber
Figure 9: Pseudocode of MOBAS-SVR.
3.4.4 Decision-making for MOO designs
As mentioned above, although the Pareto front can cope
with the MOO problem, it cannot be used for decision-
making because the final optimal mixing ratio cannot be
obtained. Therefore, a multi-criteria decision technique is
proposed, which is based on the technique for order pre-
ference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS). According
to the Pareto front with ideal points (positive and negative),
solutions that are close to the positive ideal point and far
from the negative ideal point and are suitable for TOPSIS.
The ideal point (positive) is the solution when the value of the
composite function is maximized, whereas the ideal point
(negative) is the solution when the value of the object func-
tion is minimized. Finally, the best solution is required to
obtain the highest Ci , as given in the following equations:
n
di + = ∑ (Fij − Fjideal )2 , (28)
j=1
n
di − = ∑ (Fij − Fjnon − ideal )2 , (29)
j=1
di −
Ci = , (30)
di + + di −
 9
where di + and di − are the positive and negative solutions,
respectively, i and n are the ith Pareto point and the number
of objectives, respectively, F jnon-ideal is the non-ideal value, and
F jideal indicates the ideal value of the jth objective.
3.5 Variable importance measure
A method based on SA is proposed to investigate the rela-
tionship between the input and output more deeply and
accurately. When the input value changes within its value
range, it can reflect its effect on the recommended SVR
output. The structure of the input and output variables
must be determined. Next, all the input variables were
evaluated, while the remaining variables were unchanged.
SA can be divided into two forms: global and local analyses.
The limitation of local SA is that it cannot be used to deter-
mine the uncertainty of the model. Global sensitivity ana-
lysis (GSA) can be used to evaluate input variables to
improve them concurrently. Consequently, in this research,
GSA was used to rank multiple variables. GSA modeling
depicts the importance of variables in the form of bar
graphs, with the lowest range being 0% and the highest
being 100% [66]. The gradient metric used to estimate the
change in the outcome of the output and the relative impor-
tance expression are given in the following equations [66]:
L |yˆε , j − yˆϵ, j − 1 |
gε = ∑ , (31)
j=2 L−1
gε
Rε = I , (32)
∑i = 1gi
where ε is the input variable to be studied, ŷε , j is the sen-
sitivity response indicator for xε, j , and Rε is the relative
importance of the variable.
4 Experimental results
The test data (UCS and peak strain) from the experimental
work described in Section 2.3 are shown in Figure 10. A
total of 120 datasets were collected from the experimental
training works. The results show that the UCS was signifi-
cantly weakened by temperature, as shown in Figure 10a.
With an increase in the RA replacement rate, the residual
UCS of RAC was higher than that of the UCS with a 0% RA
replacement rate after high-temperature heating (P.O.
42.5R). Specifically, the maximum UCS can be observed
for RRAC with a 50% RA replacement rate and 5% RP
content, which only decreased by 11.43% (200°C), 21.20%
10  Yunchao Tang et al.
Figure 10: Plots of the 120 experimental datasets used in this study:
(a) UCS and (b) peak strain.
(300°C), 30.96% (400°C), 38.47% (500°C), and 45.97% (600°C)
compared with compression without heating. For RRAC
with 0% RA replacement and 5% RP content, the decrease
in UCS reached 36.92% (200°C), 39.96% (300°C), 43.02%
(400°C), 52.47% (500°C), and 61.92% (600°C). The results
were similar when cement with a grading of P.O. 32.5R
was used. The decrease in the UCS of the specimens after
heating was still smaller than that of the specimen with
0% RA replacement rate. The reason is that RAs with
higher porosity can enhance UCS at high temperatures
because the thermal expansion coefficient of RA is closer
to that of mortar compared with NA [67]. This result is
consistent with those obtained in previous studies [31,32].
The test results indicate that, on the one hand, the
number of internal cracks increased after exposure to
more than 400°C and the hydrates (such as C–S–H gels)
in the concrete decomposed, resulting in an increase in
the internal pressure and spalling at the surface of the
specimens [31,32], as shown in Figure 11a. Finally, spalling
significantly decreased the UCS of all the specimens. On the
other hand, when the RP content is small, the presence of
RPs inhibits the development of internal cracks in RRAC.
However, with an increase in the RP content, many pores
are formed due to rubber melting, leading to higher por-
osity in the sample, as shown in Figure 11b. Meanwhile, the
internal structure becomes too loose, thereby decreasing
the UCS. Therefore, in terms of the UCS, an excessive RA
replacement rate and RP content are not recommended.
With an increase in the RA replacement rate at room
temperature, the peak strain was higher than that of NAC
owing to the higher porosity of Ras, as shown in Figure 10b,
which is consistent with the results reported in previous
studies on RAC tested at room temperature [17]. At elevated
temperatures, the effect of the target temperature on the
peak strain was obvious. For instance, for RRAC with a 50%
RA replacement rate and 10% RP content, the peak strain
increased by 27% (200°C), 59% (300°C), 95% (400°C), 177%
(500°C), and 259% (600°C) compared with the results
obtained at room temperature. Furthermore, the effect
of the RP content on the peak strain of RRAC is larger than
that of the RA replacement rate. Because RPs are a type of soft
material, the deformation capacity of RRAC was effectively
enhanced at room temperature, which is consistent with
other results. Considering a target temperature of 600°C as
an example, at RP contents of 5, 10, and 15%, the peak strain of
RRAC (P.O. 42.5R, 100% RA replacement rate) increased by
1.5, 10.0, and 17.4%, respectively, compared with the
values for the specimen without RPs. This is because after
heating at this temperature, RPs and calcium hydroxide
were completely decomposed, which increased the por-
osity and enhanced the deformation (peak strain) of the
specimen at the same load. Because of the difference in
the mechanical properties of RRAC and ordinary concrete
at elevated temperatures, it is necessary to optimize the
thermal properties of RRAC.
 Exploring temperature-resilient RA concrete with waste rubber  11

Figure 11: (a) Spalling on the surface of specimens at elevated temperatures. (b) Melted RPs escaping through pores.

5 Modeling results 1.8891 for UCS prediction, and 55.6384 and 0.36419 for strain
prediction, respectively.

5.1 Hyperparameter tuning

As mentioned earlier, the hyperparameters (γ and c ) of
SVR were adjusted using the BAS algorithm combined
with fivefold cross-validation to obtain the optimal fold
with the smallest RMSE. The third fold achieved the
minimum RMSE in the UCS dataset, and the first fold in
the strain dataset achieved the minimum RMSE, as shown
in Figure 12. Figure 13 shows the RMSE iteration situation
for both UCS and strain datasets. For the UCS dataset, the
RMSE curve required 49 iterations to converge, whereas
the strain dataset required 11 iterations to converge. This
demonstrates that the BAS algorithm smoothly sought out
the optimal hyperparameters of SVR. The optimal hyper-
parameters c and γ of the SVR model are 245.0654 and
5.2 Performance of BAS-SVR
Figure 14 illustrates the prediction performance of the
trained SVR models for UCS and strain. The solid black
line denotes a curve that fits perfectly. The closer a point
is near this line, the less variance there is between expected
and actual values. The majority of dots are clustered toward
the diagonal, showing the model’s excellent prediction
accuracy.
Table 4 lists the evaluation index values of UCS and
strain including the RMSE, R, MAE, and MAPE. The R values
for the UCS and strain datasets are 0.9772 and 0.9412,
respectively, indicating a strong correlation between the
predicted and actual results. Meanwhile, the RMSE, MAE,

Figure 12: Fivefold CV for tuning hyperparameters on the (a) UCS dataset and (b) strain dataset.
12  Yunchao Tang et al.

Figure 13: Normalized RMSE versus iteration in the optimal fold for (a) UCS dataset and (b) strain dataset.

Figure 14: Actual versus predicted values for (a) UCS and (b) strain.

Table 4: Evaluation of BAS-SVR for UCS and strain datasets similar. This result indicates that there are no over-fitting
or under-fitting problems. As a result, the SVR models with
Test category Evaluation index BAS-tuned hyperparameters demonstrated strong predic-
tion ability for both the UCS and strain datasets.
RMSE R MAE MAPE
To verify the accuracy of the established SVR model,
UCS (SVR) 3.1232 MPa 0.9772 2.3040 MPa 0.0987 the RF and ANN algorithms are also established as com-
UCS (ANN) 2.6521 MPa 0.9751 1.8131 MPa 0.0620
parative models [40,41]. Table 4 also shows the specific
UCS (RF) 3.8492 MPa 0.9672 2.9862 MPa 0.1250
Strain (SVR) 0.0857% 0.9412 0.0705% 0.1889
evaluation indices, where SVR is observed to have the
Strain (ANN) 0.0890% 0.0892 0.0560% 0.1680 highest accuracy compared to RF and ANN. Figure 15 illus-
Strain (RF) 0.0890% 0.0893 0.0580% 0.1530 trates the integration of standard deviation, RMSE, and
R-value in polar coordinates. The “actual” point represents
the information of the raw data, and the closest position of
and MAPE values are low, indicating the low prediction the model to this point indicates the best prediction per-
error of the established BAS-SVR models. In addition, the formance. Therefore, the SVR model is the most suitable
RMSE and R values for the training set and test set are for predicting UCS and strain in this study.
 Exploring temperature-resilient RA concrete with waste rubber
Figure 15: Taylor diagrams of RF, ANN, and SVR for predicting (a) UCS and (b) strain.
5.3 RRAC mixture optimization
The goal of this study is to minimize the cost and maximize
the UCS and strain under given constraints. Figure 16
shows the Pareto front of MOBAS-SVR obtained at different
temperatures (25, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600°C). Tables 5
and 6 list the typical mixture design of four points (A, B, C,
and D) corresponding to the conditions of the largest
TOPSIS, highest UCS, maximum strain, and lowest cost,
respectively. When a single UCS, strain, or cost is consid-
ered separately, points B, C, and D can be used as the
optimal solution for single-objective optimization. Multiple
goals can be effectively integrated to obtain a more sui-
table solution using the TOPSIS decision-making method.
At room temperature (T = 25°C, Table 5), Point B max-
imizes UCS at 53.2 MPa but it yields a smaller strain (0.19%)
than the other points. Conversely, Point C yields the largest
strain of 0.49%; however, the UCS (36.8 MPa) at this point is
smaller than any other Pareto point. In addition, Point D
yields the minimum cost of 34.2$·m−3, with relatively low
values of UCS (37.8 MPa) and strain (0.42%). Point A is con-
sidered the most suitable solution that achieved the best
tradeoff between the UCS, strain, and cost because it has
the highest TOPSIS score (1), UCS of 48.9 MPa, a strain of
0.47%, and cost of 43.1$·m−3. Similarly, the MOO mixture
design can be evaluated at other temperatures. As the tem-
perature increases, the compressive strength gradually
decreases, whereas the peak strain increases, which is con-
sistent with experimental results. In conclusion, the final
choice is based on the decision- maker’s choice to achieve a
tradeoff between these three objectives. Under the condition
 13
that no specific requirements are presented, the solution
of comprehensive consideration (TOPSIS = 1) can be
prioritized.
5.4 Variable importance analysis
An SA was performed to evaluate the importance of the
input variables for the results presented in terms of the
importance ratio, which reflects the estimated influence of
variables on UCS and peak strain, as shown in Figure 17.
The input variable that had the highest impact on UCS is
temperature, accounting for 61.07%, followed by the RA
ratio with an importance ratio of 25.91%, the RP ratio
with an importance ratio of 10.71%, and the OPC grade
with an importance ratio of 2.31%.
Among the input variables of strain, temperature had
the highest influence on the result, accounting for 74.29%,
followed by the RA ratio with an importance ratio of
12.65%, the RP ratio with an importance ratio of 9.55%,
and the OPC grade with an importance ratio of 3.51%.
6 Conclusion
In this study, the UCS and peak strain of RRAC were inves-
tigated to evaluate the effects of RPs, RA, and temperature.
A MOBAS-SVR model was successfully established based on
the experimental outcomes, simultaneously optimizing
three objectives and developing the corresponding
14  Yunchao Tang et al.

Figure 16: Pareto front based on cost, UCS, and strain of RRAC at different temperatures: (a) T = 25°C, (b) T = 200°C, (c) T = 300°C, (d) T = 400°C,
(e) T = 500°C, and (f) T = 600°C.
 Exploring temperature-resilient RA concrete with waste rubber  15

Table 5: Mixture proportions of Pareto solutions (T = 25°C) 1) The UCS was weakened after exposure to high tempera-
tures (more than 400℃). The combination of 50% RA
Mixture A (final point) B C D and 5% RPs achieved the maximum UCS of RRAC com-
−3
W (kg·m ) 214.7 215.7 208.7 208.4 pared with other combination ratios of RA and RPs. The
C (kg·m−3) 476.6 465.5 485.0 448.7 peak strain is positively related to RA owing to its
G (MPa) 42.5 42.5 42.5 42.5 higher porosity than that of NA. Similarly, RPs increase
RA (kg·m−3) 96.1 606.2 45.2 994.2 the peak strain owing to their soft properties.
NA (kg·m−3) 1023.2 481.6 1094.7 120.7
2) The BAS algorithm successfully adjusted the hyperpara-
Sand (kg·m−3) 537.6 507.9 534.0 519.2
RPs (kg·m−3) 0.0 10.9 0.0 0.0
meters of the SVR models on both the UCS and peak
WR (kg·m−3) 3.3 3.4 0.0 0.0 strain datasets. The R values were 0.9772 and 0.9412,
UCS (MPa) 48.9 53.2 36.8 37.8 respectively, indicating the relatively high accuracy of
Strain (%) 0.47 0.19 0.49 0.42 the established BAS-SVR models.
Cost ($·m−3) 43.1 43.3 40.0 34.2 3) The MOO problem was successfully addressed by intro-
TOPSIS score 1.00 0.46 0.74 0.66
ducing the MOBAS-SVR model, and the UCS, peak strain,
and cost were optimized simultaneously. The Pareto
fronts obtained in this study at varying temperatures
Table 6: Mixture proportions of Pareto solutions (T = 400°C) provide valuable design solutions for decision-makers.
The preferable non-dominated solution can be deter-
Mixture A (final point) B C D
mined using the TOPSIS method.
W (kg·m−3) 207.8 211.5 194.6 201.6 4) According to the variable SA, temperature is the dominant
C (kg·m−3) 444.4 430.0 434.1 473.1 variable among all the input variables. In addition, the RA
G (MPa) 42.5 42.5 42.5 42.5 replacement ratio is more important compared with the
RA (kg·m−3) 0.2 435.9 571.8 941.5
RP replacement ratio for both the UCS and strain datasets.
NA (kg·m−3) 1194.0 717.8 597.5 180.1
Sand (kg·m−3) 479.9 526.3 502.6 514.1
RPs (kg·m−3) 15.5 0.6 18.3 0.0 To enhance the predictive accuracy and versatility of
WR (kg·m−3) 2.5 2.7 0.0 0.0 RRAC’s properties, future efforts will focus on broadening
UCS (MPa) 30.4 32.4 16.2 19.3 the dataset to include more input variables such as cement
Strain (%) 0.70 0.55 0.71 0.63
ingredient, aggregate grading, and RA or rubber category.
Cost ($·m−3) 44.8 38.8 40.0 35.8
TOPSIS score 1.00 0.38 0.75 0.49
Additionally, exploring advanced or updated ML and MOO
models will be a priority for modeling RRAC’s properties.

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowl-

edge the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Natural
Science Foundation of Guangxi Province, Guangdong Basic and
Applied Basic Research Foundation, and the Guangxi Key
Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Engineering Safety for
providing the financial resources to carry out the work.

Funding information: This research was funded by the

Figure 17: Evaluation of the importance of input variables for the UCS
and peak strain of RRAC.
mixture design at varying temperatures. A variable SA
was also performed. The following conclusions are drawn
based on the findings of this study:
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M690765),
Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province (2021GXN
SFAA220045), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research
Foundation (2022A1515010008, 2023A1515010870), and the
Systematic Project of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Disaster
Prevention and Engineering Safety (2021ZDK007).
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsi-
bility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved
its submission.
Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
16  Yunchao Tang et al.
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