Probabilistic pushover analysis of reinforced concrete frame structures using dropout neural network

When taking into consideration nonlinear phenomena such as material plasticity, plastic hinge, and P-Delta effect, the pushover analysis can provide more realistic structures’ nonlinear responses. However, this method is not widely used in practice as it is more complex and requires more expertise than elastic approaches. On the other hand, the data-driven method emerges as an increasingly appealing alternative since it requires only input parameters, then directly yields results in conditions that enough training data are provided, as well as an appropriate machine learning model is devised. Thus, this study develops a probabilistic data-driven approach using the Multiple Layer Perceptron network coupled with the Dropout mechanism to perform the pushover analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures, predicting base shear, lateral displacement, as well as their relationship between the two formers. Moreover, corresponding confidence intervals of predicted values are also available owing to the probabilistic nature of the method, thus helping engineers design conservative solutions. Keywords: pushover analysis; reinforced concrete; structure; probabilistic analysis; machine learning; dropout mechanism; OpenSees.