An Unbiased Fuzzy Weighted Relative Error Support Vector Machine for Reverse Prediction of Concrete Components

Concrete is a vital component in modern construction, prized for its strength, durability, and versatility. Accurately determining the quantities of concrete components is crucial in civil engineering applications to optimize resources (e.g., manpower and financial resources). In this article, we propose an unbiased fuzzy-weighted relative error support vector machine (UFW-RE-SVM) for reverse prediction of concrete components. First, we add an unbiased term to the target function of UFW-RE-SVM for obtaining an unbiased model. Second, we design a fuzzy-weighted operation to indicate sample importance by incorporating the fuzzy membership values into the UFW-RE-SVM. The $n$th root operation is introduced to address the exponential explosion issue in the fuzzy-weighted operation. Finally, considering the UFW-RE-SVM is sensitive to its hyperparameters for multioutput prediction, the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) is utilized for hyperparameter optimization for its effectiveness in optimization tasks. We design the fitness function based on the results from multiple components to balance the performance of multioutput predictions. Experimental results show that the performance of our proposed model outperforms existing works in predicting concrete components in terms of mean absolute relative error, standard deviation, and root mean square error. Further, the statistical test shows the WOA and two other metaheuristics can significantly improve the prediction performance. This indicates that the unbiased term, fuzzy-weighted operation, and WOA are effective for improving the proposed model for reverse prediction concrete components. With these promising results, the proposed model could provide decision-makers with a valuable tool for determining concrete component quantities based on desired concrete qualities.