Publications & Articles

2026 Journal

Shear capacity of slender FRP-RC beams utilizing a hybrid ANN with the firefly optimizer

Yasser Sharifi, Nematullah Zafarani

Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites

The popularity of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars has soared due to their advantageous mechanical and physical properties. This study introduces FOA-ANN as an advanced hybrid machine learning model to predict the shear capacity of slender FRP-RC beams without stirrup.…

2026 Journal

Hybrid firefly-ANN model for shear strength estimation in SFRC beams

Hojjat Sharifi, Nematullah Zafarani, Yasser Sharifi

Journal of Structural Integrity and Maintenance

Determining the shear strength of steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams is a persistent challenge in structural engineering. The present study proposes a novel hybrid machine learning model – FOA-ANN – which combines an artificial neural network (ANN) with the firefly algorithm (FOA).…

2025 Journal

Hybrid grey-wolf optimizer and MLP neural network for shear capacity prediction of slender FRP-RC beams

Nematullah Zafarani, Yasser Sharifi

International Journal of Civil Engineering

This research introduces an innovative hybrid model that integrates the Grey-Wolf Optimizer (GWO) with a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) Neural Network (GWO-ANN) to predict the shear strength of slender FRP-RC beams without stirrups.…

2025 Journal

A New Practical Equation for the Shear Capacity of FRP-RC Slender Beams Assessment via Gene Expression Programming

Yasser Sharifi, Nematullah Zafarani

Structural Engineering International

Due to their advantageous mechanical and physical characteristics, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars have been used extensively. Here, a gene expression programming (GEP) based algorithm is used with an extensive database of 481 stirrup-free experimental samples.…

2025 Journal

An approach involving the coupling of artificial neural network with the genetic algorithm optimizer for predicting the shear capacity of SFRC beams

Hojjat Sharifi, Nematullah Zafarani, Yasser Sharifi

Structural Concrete

While various code provision equations exist for evaluating the shear strength of steel fiber‐reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams, this paper introduces a novel hybrid machine learning model known as GAO-ANN, integrating a multilayer perceptron ANN with the GAO.…

2024 Journal

Modifying the virtual water trade of rice for global sustainability of freshwater resources

Mehran Hekmatnia, Narges Dahmardeh Ghaleno, Ahmad Fatahi Ardakani, Nematullah Zafarani

Sustainable Water Resources Management

Unchecked virtual water trade can threaten the sustainability of freshwater resources and global food security. This study addresses this gap by investigating and modifying the virtual water trade structure using the virtual water trade policy framework and the proportional allocation method.…

2024 Journal

Prediction of shear capacity of slender SFRC beams without stirrup through combination of particle swarm optimization and neural network

Nematullah Zafarani, Hojjat Sharifi, Yasser Sharifi

Structures

This paper introduces a novel hybrid machine learning model, PSO-ANN, which combines the characteristics of artificial neural network (ANN) with the particle swarm optimizer (PSO).…