Artificial Intelligence Approach in Predicting the Effect of Elevated Temperature on the Mechanical Properties of PET Aggregate Mortars: An Experimental Study

In this study, the effect of high temperature on the flexural and compressive strength of mortars containing waste PET aggregates was investigated experimentally. The mortar samples prepared in 5 different concentrations with a total of 2.5%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 30% PET aggregate substitution were heated up to 100, 150, 200, 250, 300 and 400 °C. After waiting for 1, 2 and 3 h at these temperatures, flexural and compressive strength tests were performed. It was observed that flexural strength and compressive strength values decreased with increasing temperature and PET aggregate amounts in all mixtures. An artificial neural network was designed to estimate flexural and compressive strength values using experimental data. It has been observed that the developed artificial neural network can predict flexural and compressive strengths with an average error of − 0.51%.