Period estimate of wood buildings employing soft modelling techniques.

This study explores the applicability of the metaheuristic algorithm for calculating the building period. Firefly algorithm (FA) employing the feed-forward (FF) model is applied to an existing period dataset of several wood buildings, whose motions were recorded at ambient conditions. The composition of the considered artificial neural network (ANN) is optimized employing the firefly algorithm, and the fixed weights are determined with the least error for the model. The model's precision is evaluated by comparing the results with the multiple linear regression (MLR) model, the ANN model combined with the genetic algorithm (GA-ANN), particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO-ANN), and the models existing in building code. The results are also compared with the models presented in the literature for the period estimate required for the seismic design of wood buildings. The paper concludes that the proposed informational model can predict the fundamental period of light-frame wood buildings more accurately than the other available models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]