ANN-BASED MODELLING OF FLY ASH COMPACTION CURVE

The use of fly ash as a material for earth structures involves its proper compaction. Fly ash compaction tests have to be conducted on separately prepared virgin samples because spherical ash grains are crushed during compaction, so the laboratory compaction procedure is time-consuming and laborious. The aim of the study was to determine the neural models for prediction of fly ash compaction curve shapes. The attempt of applying the artificial neural networks type MLP was made. ANN inputs were new-created variables -principal components dependent on grain-size distribution (as D-10-D-90 and uniformity and curvature coefficients), compaction method, and fly ash specific density. The output vectors were presented by co-ordinates of generated compaction curve points. Each point (w(i), rho(di)) was described by two independent ANNs. Using ANN-based modelling method, models which enable establishing the approximate compaction curve shape were obtained.