Study on failure mode prediction of reinforced concrete columns based on class imbalanced dataset

Accurately predicting the failure modes of reinforced concrete (RC) columns is essential for structural design and assessment. In this study, the challenges of imbalanced datasets and complex feature selection in machine learning (ML) methods were addressed through an optimized ML approach. By combining feature selection and oversampling techniques, the prediction of seismic failure modes in rectangular RC columns was improved. Two feature selection methods were used to identify six input parameters. To tackle class imbalance, the Borderline-SMOTE1 algorithm was employed, enhancing the learning capabilities of the models for minority classes. Eight ML algorithms were trained and fine-tuned using k-fold shuffle split cross-validation and grid search. The results showed that the artificial neural network model achieved 96.77% accuracy, while k-nearest neighbor, support vector machine, and random forest models each achieved 95.16% accuracy. The balanced dataset led to significant improvements, particularly in predicting the flexure-shear failure mode, with accuracy increasing by 6%, recall by 8%, and F1 scores by 7%. The use of the Borderline-SMOTE1 algorithm significantly improved the recognition of samples at failure mode boundaries, enhancing the classification performance of models like k-nearest neighbor and decision tree, which are highly sensitive to data distribution and decision boundaries. This method effectively addressed class imbalance and selected relevant features without requiring complex simulations like traditional methods, proving applicable for discerning failure modes in various concrete members under seismic action.