The rapid rise in global population and industrial activity has intensified environmental challenges, particularly carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the cement and concrete industry. Biochar, a carbon-rich byproduct of biomass pyrolysis, has emerged as a promising solution for sustainable construction by enhancing carbon sequestration and improving mechanical performance when partially substituting cement. This study integrates experimental evidence with advanced machine learning (ML) techniques to evaluate the compressive strength, cost-efficiency, and carbon footprint of biochar-incorporated concrete. A comprehensive dataset of nine input parameters, including cement, aggregates, silica fume, fly ash, biochar, water, superplasticizer, and curing age was modeled using multiple ML approaches. Among the models tested, the hybrid XGB-Histogram Gradient Boosting (XGB-HistGB) model consistently achieved the best overall performance, with a testing R2 of 0.958, the lowest mean absolute error (3.03), and minimal prediction bias. This model outperformed standalone algorithms and other hybrids, providing reliable accuracy across compressive strength, cost, and embodied CO₂ predictions. SHAP and partial dependence analyses confirmed fine aggregate, curing age, and superplasticizer as the most influential parameters, while biochar dosage required careful optimization to balance strength retention with sustainability benefits. A user-friendly graphical interface was also developed, enabling real-time prediction of compressive strength, material cost, and CO₂ emissions based on user-defined mix proportions. Overall, the findings demonstrate that biochar can be effectively integrated into sustainable concrete formulations, and the XGB-HistGB model offers a powerful AI-driven predictive framework to optimize both structural performance and environmental outcomes.
The cement industry is a major contributor to global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, necessitating the development of sustainable construction materials with reduced environmental impact. This study proposes a novel integrated framework that combines industrial waste-based low-carbon concrete development with machine-learning-driven strength prediction and mix optimization. Low-carbon concrete mixes were produced by partially replacing ordinary Portland cement with fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) at various replacement levels. Experimental investigations were conducted to evaluate compressive strength development at different curing ages. A dataset comprising 300 experimental observations was subsequently employed to develop and compare three machine learning models, namely Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Regression (SVR), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), for compressive strength prediction. The results demonstrate that appropriately designed low-carbon concrete mixtures can achieve comparable or superior long-term strength while substantially reducing cement consumption and associated CO₂ emissions. Among the evaluated models, XGBoost exhibited the highest predictive accuracy, indicating its suitability for sustainable concrete mix optimization. The novelty of this study lies in integrating experimental low-carbon concrete design, environmental assessment, and advanced machine learning techniques within a unified framework to enhance structural performance and sustainability simultaneously. The proposed approach provides an efficient pathway to reduce trial-and-error experimentation and accelerate the adoption of eco-friendly concrete in modern construction practices.
Abdullah Asiri· Rocznik Ochrona Srodowiska· 0 citations
The rapid rate of urbanization and industrialization has driven the excessive use of natural resources like river sand and gravel, raising significant sustainability concerns. Waste foundry sand (WFS), a discarded by-product of ferrous and nonferrous metal casting industries, offers a promising substitute for natural sand in concrete. This study focuses on predicting the compressive strength (CS) of WFS-infused concrete by analyzing the impact of various factors, such as cement content, WFS proportion, supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), water, aggregate composition, and superplasticizer (SP) usage. A data set comprising 401 mix ratios and their corresponding strengths was developed using systematic literature review approach and analyzed using advanced machine-learning (ML) models, including extreme gradient boosting (XGB), categorial boosting (CatB), light gradient boosting, gradient boosting, decision tree,
k
-nearest neighbor, adaptive boosting, bagging regressor, and random forest. The data set was divided into training and testing subsets, and statistical evaluations were performed to determine correlations between input parameters and strength. Among the models, XGB and CatB demonstrated the highest accuracy (
R
2
=
0.98
and 0.97 for training data;
R
2
=
0.83
and 0.86 for testing data, respectively). Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) and partial dependence plot (PDP) analysis revealed that water content and curing age significantly enhanced compressive strength. Furthermore, the developed graphical user interface will help to practically estimate the compressive strength of WFS concrete without any experimental trials.
M. H. R. Sobuz, Md. Kawsarul Islam Kabbo, Abdullah Alzlfawi et al.· Journal of Structural Design...· 0 citations
The increasing demand for sustainable construction materials has accelerated the incorporation of industrial by-products such as fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), silica fume, rice husk ash, marble dust, and waste glass powder into composite concrete. These supplementary cementitious materials not only reduce environmental impacts associated with cement production but also enhance specific mechanical and durability properties of concrete. However, predicting the mechanical performance of composite concrete remains a complex challenge due to the nonlinear interactions among constituent materials, curing conditions, mix proportions, and environmental factors. Recent advancements in machine learning (ML) have provided innovative solutions for accurately predicting concrete properties while minimizing experimental costs and time.
This study presents a comprehensive review and conceptual framework for machine learning-based prediction of mechanical properties of composite concrete incorporating industrial by-products. A systematic examination of recent studies published between 2018 and 2026 is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various ML algorithms, including Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Gradient Boosting Machines (GBM), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Deep Learning models. The findings reveal that ensemble learning techniques frequently outperform traditional statistical methods, achieving prediction accuracies exceeding 90% in several applications. Furthermore, the review identifies critical challenges such as data scarcity, lack of standardized datasets, model interpretability issues, and limited real-world implementation.
The study proposes a conceptual framework integrating sustainable concrete design with advanced machine learning methodologies. It highlights future research opportunities involving explainable artificial intelligence, hybrid optimization algorithms, digital twins, and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled monitoring systems. The research contributes to sustainable construction practices by demonstrating how intelligent prediction models can support material optimization, resource conservation, and reduced carbon emissions in the construction industry.
Keywords: Machine Learning, Composite Concrete, Industrial By-Products, Mechanical Properties Prediction, Sustainable Construction, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Materials
Ruchita K. Ingole· International Journal of Cre...· 0 citations
This study develops an integrated machine learning-experimental framework to predict the compressive strength (CS) of concrete incorporating ternary industrial wastes glass powder, marble powder, and iron ore slag. For this purpose, a dataset comprising 366 mix ratios and corresponding CS values was compiled from various sources for analysis. Advanced machine learning (ML) algorithms, including extreme gradient boosting (XGB), gradient boosting, and random forest (RF), were employed alongside hybrid techniques such as XGB-GBR and XGB-RF to evaluate the influence of these materials on strength. Based on the outcomes of the analysis, the hybrid XGB-GBR model demonstrates the highest balanced performance for both training (R2 = 0.911) and testing (R2 = 0.869) data sets. For validating the ML modeling and developing an interactive graphical user interface (GUI), experimental evaluation of CS and scanning electron microscopy was conducted. Additionally, feature importance modeling and optimization identified curing age and coarse aggregate as the most influential factors that would impact the model prediction. The contribution of this research lies in the combined modeling and experimental evaluation of a ternary waste concrete system, along with the development of a GUI. This deployable GUI will enhance the industrial applicability of ML-based concrete optimization by reducing material costs, minimizing trial batching, and supporting sustainable mix design practices.
Md. Samsuzzaman Sobuz, Md. Kawsarul Islam Kabbo, Abdullah Alzlfawi et al.· Scientific Reports· 0 citations
There has been a rise in the need of concrete leading to high consumption of cement and emission of carbon. Sustainable concrete incorporating supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) is an alternative that is eco-friendly, but the mechanical behavior is complicated and hard to predict using the traditional tests. The work presents a framework involving machine learning because of predicting the mechanical properties of sustainable concrete, namely, compressive, split tensile, and flexural strength. Four models such as Linear Regression, Support Vector Regression, Random Forest, and Artificial Neural Network were constructed based on a data of nearly 1000 sustainable concrete mixes. To estimate the model performance, R 2, RMSE and MAE were used. The findings indicated that ANN and RF had the greatest prediction accuracy. The feature analysis established the most influential factors to be water content, cement dosage, replacement ratio of SCM, and curing age. The mix design approach proposed here is a fast, economical, and sustainable approach to the design of concrete mix.
Arti Chouksey, Santosh Reddy P, P. S et al.· 2026 International Conferenc...· 0 citations
Sustainable concrete incorporating waste glass materials has emerged as a promising solution to reduce environmental impacts associated with cement production and natural aggregate depletion. Accurate prediction of compressive strength (CS) is essential for optimizing such mixtures and ensuring structural reliability. In this study, five machine learning models: Random Forest (RF), K-Nearest-Neighbors (KNN), Adaptive-Boosting (AdaBoost), Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM), and Extreme-Gradient-Boosting (XGBoost) were developed and optimized using Grid Search to predict the CS of concrete containing glass powder (GP) and glass sand (GS). A dataset of 270 experimental samples was utilized, incorporating eight input parameters, including curing duration, cement content, GP, GS, water, density, sand, and basalt. Among the models, LightGBM demonstrated superior predictive performance during testing, achieving a determination coefficient (R² = 0.964) and Root-Mean-Square-Error (RMSE = 2.05 MPa), followed by XGBoost (R² = 0.955) and RF (R² = 0.953). In contrast, KNN and AdaBoost exhibited comparatively lower performance. SHAP and Partial Dependence Plot (PDP) analyses identified curing duration and cement content as the most influential parameters, while water and GP exhibited negative effects on CS. To enhance practical applicability, the LightGBM model was deployed through a user-friendly GUI, enabling rapid and reliable prediction of CS and providing an accurate, interpretable, and practical decision-support tool for sustainable concrete mixture design.
Abdelrahman Shams, S. R. Wani, Eman Mousa et al.· Scientific Reports· 0 citations